Navalign LLC Sells 20 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Navalign LLC lowered its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,806 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 20 shares during the quarter. Navalign LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,466,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BLK. West Tower Group LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Tyler Stone Wealth Management bought a new position in BlackRock in the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 671.4% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 54 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Selway Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter worth about $41,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

BlackRock Price Performance

NYSE:BLK traded down $2.53 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $832.59. 531,855 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 599,850. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $596.18 and a 12-month high of $845.00. The company has a quick ratio of 3.48, a current ratio of 3.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market cap of $124.01 billion, a PE ratio of 22.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.37. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $805.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $742.68.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 12th. The asset manager reported $9.66 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.84 by $0.82. BlackRock had a net margin of 30.81% and a return on equity of 14.74%. The firm had revenue of $4.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $8.93 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 39.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 7th were issued a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 6th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.45%. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.00. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.88%.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 18,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.54, for a total transaction of $5,085,660.60. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 11,914 shares in the company, valued at $3,366,142.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other BlackRock news, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.54, for a total transaction of $5,085,660.60. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 11,914 shares in the company, valued at $3,366,142.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total value of $765,272.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,574,225.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 100,511 shares of company stock worth $71,864,028. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.