Southland Equity Partners LLC Acquires 438 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Southland Equity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 55.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,235 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 438 shares during the period. Southland Equity Partners LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,266,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BLK. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 89,389.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,046,131 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $993,312,000 after purchasing an additional 1,044,962 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in BlackRock by 104,468.9% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 792,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,526,120,000 after purchasing an additional 791,874 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth approximately $330,662,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,244,608,000 after purchasing an additional 226,135 shares during the last quarter. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter worth about $115,377,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total transaction 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 $69,117,330. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 100,190 shares of company stock valued at $104,436,741. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $1,016.99 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,025.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $951.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $157.51 billion, a PE ratio of 24.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $745.55 and a 52-week high of $1,082.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $9.66 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 48.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on 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 BlackRock in a research report on Friday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Three investment 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 company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

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.