Westhampton Capital LLC Sells 25 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Westhampton Capital LLC lowered its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,670 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 25 shares during the quarter. Westhampton Capital LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,712,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $69,117,330. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 100,190 shares of company stock valued at $104,436,741. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective 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. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of 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 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, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday, January 24th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $1,053.50 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $163.17 billion, a PE ratio of 25.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.28. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $1,024.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $958.99. 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 52-week low of $745.55 and a 52-week high of $1,082.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $9.66 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.98%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.57%.

BlackRock Company 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.