Sand Hill Global Advisors LLC Has $6.55 Million Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Sand Hill Global Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 0.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,788 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 87 shares during the period. Sand Hill Global Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $6,549,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Fairfield Bush & CO. acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 1st quarter valued at $115,000. United Bank increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 17.1% during the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 1,287 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $983,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,978 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,512,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 35.4% during the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,025 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $783,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 11.7% during the 1st quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,452 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,110,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. 77.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $770.00 to $835.00 in a research note on Monday, July 10th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $780.00 to $770.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $780.00 to $820.00 in a research note on Monday, July 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $741.00 to $781.00 in a research note on Monday, July 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $767.69.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 20,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $742.04, for a total transaction of $14,989,208.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 464,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $344,399,315. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 2,079 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $733.82, for a total transaction of $1,525,611.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,160 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,520,331.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 20,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $742.04, for a total transaction of $14,989,208.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 464,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $344,399,315. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $690.56 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.21, a current ratio of 4.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company has a market capitalization of $103.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.29. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $503.12 and a 12-month high of $785.65. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $705.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $680.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 14th. The asset manager reported $9.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.52 by $0.76. BlackRock had a net margin of 29.90% and a return on equity of 14.29%. The firm had revenue of $4.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $7.36 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 35.48 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $5.00 per share. This represents a $20.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.41%.

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.