Sierra Summit Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Sierra Summit Advisors LLC boosted its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 26.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 845 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 176 shares during the quarter. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $866,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,356,357,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 138,682.5% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 634,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $634,000 after acquiring an additional 633,779 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $572,730,000. Amundi bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $528,792,000. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $343,976,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on BLK. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays decreased their price target on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,130.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $822.38 on Monday. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $968.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $992.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23. The stock has a market cap of $127.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.58, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38.

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. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The firm’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $9.66 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.53%. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.62%.

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.