Independent Advisor Alliance Has $2.58 Million Stock Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Independent Advisor Alliance lessened its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 25.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,719 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 905 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $2,581,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in BlackRock by 9.5% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 938 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $781,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC boosted its position in BlackRock by 405.1% during the first quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 2,652 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,210,000 after purchasing an additional 2,127 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in BlackRock by 22.9% during the first quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 4,097 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,416,000 after purchasing an additional 763 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank boosted its position in BlackRock by 1.3% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 56,419 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $47,036,000 after purchasing an additional 720 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC boosted its position in BlackRock by 24.7% during the first quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 106 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $88,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total value of $10,800,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,832,000. This represents a 64.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,010.00 to $1,120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com assumed coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,105.00 to $1,133.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,019.62.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.5 %

BlackRock stock opened at $1,031.49 on Tuesday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $724.54 and a 52 week high of $1,068.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a current ratio of 5.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $159.76 billion, a PE ratio of 25.46, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.30. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $987.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $882.60.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.42 by $1.04. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $10.91 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.17 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of $5.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 50.35%.

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.