Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc. Sells 29 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc. reduced its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,349 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 29 shares during the quarter. Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,383,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kathmere Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 16.2% in the second quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 388 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $305,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 36.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 787 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $620,000 after buying an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 21,864 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $17,214,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock in the second quarter worth $13,057,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in BlackRock by 20.6% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 64,715 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $50,951,000 after acquiring an additional 11,072 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BLK. Barclays cut their price objective 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. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now directly 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $6,777,432. The trade was a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 100,190 shares of company stock valued at $104,436,741. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE BLK opened at $1,020.19 on Monday. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,082.45. The stock has a market cap of $158.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,024.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $955.97.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $9.66 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.43 earnings per share for the current 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 dividend of $5.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.57%.

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.