Lee Financial Co Has $1.73 Million Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Lee Financial Co trimmed its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,684 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 26 shares during the quarter. Lee Financial Co’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,726,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Collier Financial acquired a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% during the third quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLK has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays lowered their target price on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE:BLK opened at $973.22 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,084.22. The company has a fifty day moving average of $1,019.28 and a 200-day moving average of $972.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $150.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The business’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $9.66 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, 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 value of $56,485,620.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. This trade represents a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,117,330. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.