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

FourThought Financial Partners LLC trimmed its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,870 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 369 shares during the quarter. BlackRock comprises approximately 1.5% of FourThought Financial Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. FourThought Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $12,071,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA boosted 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. purchased a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Knuff & Co LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 48.1% in the 4th quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 671.4% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 54 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 520 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now owns 4,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,256,463.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total value of $765,272.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,437 shares in the company, valued at $3,574,225.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 520 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $784.69, for a total transaction of $408,038.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,256,463.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 72,057 shares of company stock valued at $58,575,704. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

BlackRock Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE BLK traded up $6.91 during trading on Friday, hitting $763.91. The stock had a trading volume of 558,283 shares, compared to its average volume of 689,289. BlackRock, Inc. has a one year low of $596.18 and a one year high of $845.00. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $797.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $764.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $113.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 3.48 and a current ratio of 3.48.

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

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.