Good Life Advisors LLC Sells 255 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Good Life Advisors LLC cut its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 31.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 561 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 255 shares during the quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC's holdings in BlackRock were worth $576,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Collier Financial purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141 in the last 90 days. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on BLK shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BLK stock traded down $14.41 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $974.97. 1,253,611 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 821,976. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,013.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $976.04. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,084.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $151.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $9.66 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from BlackRock's previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock's payout ratio is currently 48.57%.

About BlackRock

BlackRock, Inc is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm primarily provides its services to institutional, intermediary, and individual investors including corporate, public, union, and industry pension plans, insurance companies, third-party mutual funds, endowments, public institutions, governments, foundations, charities, sovereign wealth funds, corporations, official institutions, and banks.