Ledyard National Bank Has $1.12 Million Stock Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Ledyard National Bank decreased its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,090 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 18 shares during the quarter. Ledyard National Bank’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,117,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth $39,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of BlackRock in a report on Saturday, February 1st. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Barclays cut their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BLK opened at $1,005.99 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $155.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.28. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $1,025.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $966.82. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22.

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

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.07%. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $6,777,432. This represents a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,117,330. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141 in the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.