Modera Wealth Management LLC Sells 344 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Modera Wealth Management LLC cut its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 60,372 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 344 shares during the period. Modera Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $61,888,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in BlackRock by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 511 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $524,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 68.6% during the fourth quarter. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. now owns 590 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $605,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Bailard Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 26,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $27,642,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Norden Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 21.4% during the fourth quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 652 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $669,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $61,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total value 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at $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 a total of 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Up 3.7 %

Shares of BLK opened at $979.44 on Friday. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,084.22. The company has a market cap of $151.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $1,003.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $981.81.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The firm’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $9.66 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.13%. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.62%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on BLK shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Company 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.