Washington Trust Advisors Inc. Has $1.19 Million Stock Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. reduced its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,461 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 30 shares during the quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,186,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Everhart Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 450 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $365,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Holderness Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Holderness Investments Co. now owns 602 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $416,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Seaport Global Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Seaport Global Advisors LLC now owns 353 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $250,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,733 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,646,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares during the period. Finally, CRA Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. CRA Financial Services LLC now owns 385 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $249,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLK has been the topic of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on BlackRock from $719.00 to $793.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 30th. BNP Paribas raised BlackRock from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $885.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 12th. TD Cowen raised BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $819.00 to $938.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut BlackRock from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $708.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, December 15th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on BlackRock from $720.00 to $818.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $785.73.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 18,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.54, for a total value of $5,085,660.60. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 11,914 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,366,142.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total transaction of $29,498,425.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 17,004 shares in the company, valued at $13,910,292.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.54, for a total value of $5,085,660.60. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 11,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,366,142.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 100,511 shares of company stock valued at $71,864,028. 1.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BlackRock stock traded up $10.59 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $830.79. The company had a trading volume of 264,152 shares, compared to its average volume of 597,282. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $596.18 and a 52 week high of $845.00. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $803.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $741.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $123.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 3.48, a quick ratio of 3.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 12th. The asset manager reported $9.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.84 by $0.82. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 30.81%. The company had revenue of $4.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $8.93 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 39.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, March 7th were issued a $5.10 dividend. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.00. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 6th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.88%.

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.