Sage Mountain Advisors LLC Acquires 569 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Sage Mountain Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 70.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,377 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 569 shares during the quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC's holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,412,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Collier Financial bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLK has been the topic of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. They issued a "hold" rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

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BlackRock Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE BLK traded up $5.22 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $915.59. The company's stock had a trading volume of 356,483 shares, compared to its average volume of 844,729. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $990.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $986.42. The stock has a market cap of $142.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.29. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $745.55 and a 52 week high of $1,084.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $9.66 EPS. The company's revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is a positive change from BlackRock's previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.28%. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total value of $408,229.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,720 shares in the company, valued at $3,531,656.40. The trade was a 10.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.