Insigneo Advisory Services LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Insigneo Advisory Services LLC cut its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 36.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 670 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 391 shares during the period. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC's holdings in BlackRock were worth $687,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $2,356,357,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 138,682.5% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 634,236 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $634,000 after buying an additional 633,779 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $572,730,000. Amundi purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $528,792,000. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth approximately $343,976,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total value of $10,726,400.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

BlackRock Trading Up 2.5 %

NYSE BLK traded up $21.63 on Tuesday, reaching $875.63. The stock had a trading volume of 102,300 shares, compared to its average volume of 924,868. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $135.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $748.02 and a 12-month high of $1,084.22. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $927.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $985.23.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $10.84 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.47 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $9.81 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $5.21 dividend. This is a boost from BlackRock's previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on BLK. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group dropped their price target on BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,077.08.

BlackRock Profile

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.