Woodward Diversified Capital LLC Trims Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Woodward Diversified Capital LLC lowered its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 32.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 545 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 258 shares during the period. Woodward Diversified Capital LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $559,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC now owns 4,824 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,945,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. BLB&B Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at $1,740,000. Generate Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $17,635,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $270,000. Finally, Archer Investment Corp boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 436.5% in the fourth quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 338 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $347,000 after buying an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $991.95 on Friday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $745.55 and a 1-year 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. The stock has a market cap of $153.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.28. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $1,025.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $967.09.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $9.66 earnings per share. Analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $5.21 dividend. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.10%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 48.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total value of $56,485,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Saturday, February 1st. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

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.