FourThought Financial Partners LLC Lowers Stock Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

FourThought Financial Partners LLC trimmed its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 14,870 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 369 shares during the period. BlackRock comprises 1.5% of FourThought Financial Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. FourThought Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $12,071,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 208.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Knuff & Co LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 48.1% during the 4th quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in BlackRock by 671.4% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 54 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.9 %

BlackRock stock traded up $6.91 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $763.91. The company had a trading volume of 558,283 shares, compared to its average volume of 689,289. The company has a quick ratio of 3.48, a current ratio of 3.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $596.18 and a 1 year high of $845.00. The business has a fifty day moving average of $797.35 and a 200 day moving average of $764.35. The stock has a market cap of $113.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.41, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.37.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total transaction of $25,089,701.76. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 414,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $335,425,128.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total value of $25,089,701.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 414,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $335,425,128.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 3,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $793.86, for a total value of $2,460,966.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 8,628 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,849,424.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 72,057 shares of company stock valued at $58,575,704. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.