United Community Bank Sells 29 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

United Community Bank cut its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 948 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 29 shares during the quarter. United Community Bank’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $972,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BLK. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 138,682.5% in the 4th 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. Amundi bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $528,792,000. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $343,976,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $330,662,000. Finally, National Pension Service bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $322,097,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on BlackRock in a research note on Wednesday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total value of $10,726,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $73,403,973.12. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629 in the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

BlackRock Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE BLK opened at $947.96 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $146.82 billion, a PE ratio of 22.57, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $745.55 and a 12 month high of $1,084.22. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $994.60 and a 200-day moving average of $985.00.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $9.66 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $5.21 per share. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.20%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.62%.

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.