Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC cut its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 32.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 14,514 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 7,119 shares during the quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $14,878,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at about $66,000. Invst LLC raised its stake in BlackRock by 2.2% during the third quarter. Invst LLC now owns 2,435 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,312,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Wealthquest Corp purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $225,000. Tudor Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $399,000. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 31.8% during the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 791 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $751,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered 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. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,077.08.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $908.28 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $922.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $983.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $141.01 billion, a PE ratio of 21.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. 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 52 week low of $748.78 and a 52 week high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.84 by $0.46. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The firm had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.47 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $9.81 earnings per share. BlackRock’s revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.29%. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 50.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 2,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $852.01, for a total transaction of $1,704,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 66,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,261,628.34. The trade was a 2.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders sold 12,430 shares of company stock worth $12,838,649 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

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.