Sheets Smith Wealth Management Reduces Stock Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Sheets Smith Wealth Management lessened its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,748 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 43 shares during the quarter. Sheets Smith Wealth Management’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $3,043,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 208.3% during the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 37 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Knuff & Co LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 48.1% in the fourth quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 671.4% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 414,146 shares in the company, valued at approximately $335,425,128.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total transaction of $25,089,701.76. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 414,146 shares in the company, valued at approximately $335,425,128.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 520 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $784.69, for a total transaction of $408,038.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,256,463.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 72,057 shares of company stock worth $58,575,704 in the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE BLK traded up $6.91 during trading hours 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. The firm has a market cap of $113.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.37. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $596.18 and a fifty-two week high of $845.00. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $797.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $766.29.

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, topping 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 business had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $7.93 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 EPS for the current year.

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.