Sawgrass Asset Management LLC Sells 13 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Sawgrass Asset Management LLC cut its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,647 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 13 shares during the quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,688,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at $2,069,000. Naples Global Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC now owns 7,983 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $8,184,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 34,257 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $35,117,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 21.5% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 32,579 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $33,146,000 after purchasing an additional 5,760 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Great Lakes Retirement Inc. acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $5,029,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the subject of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Barclays dropped their target price on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total value of $10,100,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $69,117,330. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141 in the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $973.54 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $150.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28. The business’s fifty day moving average is $1,023.22 and its 200 day moving average is $971.96. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $745.55 and a 12-month high of $1,084.22. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $9.66 EPS. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.57%.

About BlackRock

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.