Sierra Ocean LLC Makes New Investment in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 155 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $159,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WBH Advisory Inc. grew its position in BlackRock by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. WBH Advisory Inc. now owns 1,055 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,082,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC now owns 6,316 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,475,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 30.2% in the fourth quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 1,282 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,314,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. MOKAN Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth $1,196,000. Finally, Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $4,505,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total transaction of $10,100,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,117,330. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was 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 owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141 over the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE:BLK opened at $973.22 on Monday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $745.55 and a 1-year high of $1,084.22. The company has a market capitalization of $150.73 billion, a PE ratio of 23.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $1,019.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $973.49. 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) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $9.66 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $5.21 dividend. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays reduced their price target on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.