BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Sold by Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management reduced its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 33.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 3,493 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $5,683,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth $206,000. Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 21.4% in the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,454 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,863,000 after purchasing an additional 1,491 shares in the last quarter. Lincoln National Corp lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 21.7% in the fourth quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 2,161 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,754,000 after purchasing an additional 385 shares in the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 11,572 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,394,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at $1,153,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total value of $29,498,425.54. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,910,292.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other BlackRock news, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 3,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the general counsel now owns 8,628 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,849,424.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total value of $29,498,425.54. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,004 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,910,292.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 71,087 shares of company stock valued at $57,814,366. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BLK stock traded up $6.31 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $780.95. 777,395 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 620,987. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $596.18 and a twelve month high of $845.00. The company has a market capitalization of $116.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.37. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $796.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $768.53. The company has a current ratio of 3.48, a quick ratio of 3.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.42 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.34% and a net margin of 32.26%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $7.93 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on BLK shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. TD Cowen upgraded BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $819.00 to $938.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $930.00 price objective (up from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $845.42.

About BlackRock

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.