Sigma Planning Corp Sells 917 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Sigma Planning Corp cut its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 54.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 773 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 917 shares during the period. Sigma Planning Corp’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $628,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BLK. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA grew its holdings in BlackRock by 208.3% during the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 37 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 671.4% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 54 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. Finally, FSC Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $40,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 3,100 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $793.86, for a total transaction of $2,460,966.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 8,628 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,849,424.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 3,418 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $781.11, for a total transaction of $2,669,833.98. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 70,378 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,972,959.58. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 3,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $793.86, for a total value of $2,460,966.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 8,628 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,849,424.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 82,511 shares of company stock valued at $66,778,367 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on BLK shares. TD Cowen raised BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $819.00 to $938.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $930.00 price target (up from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Friday, April 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $845.42.

BlackRock Price Performance

NYSE:BLK opened at $762.51 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $113.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.37. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $596.18 and a 52-week high of $845.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $803.50 and a 200 day moving average of $759.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 3.48 and a current ratio of 3.48.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.42 by $0.39. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.34% and a net margin of 32.26%. The company had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $7.93 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.