Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 5.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,120 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 69 shares during the quarter. Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $909,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,369,035 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,178,048,000 after acquiring an additional 104,844 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,329,550 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,148,586,000 after purchasing an additional 35,161 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 22.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,105,314 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,361,064,000 after buying an additional 379,631 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,015,535 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,636,212,000 after buying an additional 47,326 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in BlackRock by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,745,648 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,128,544,000 after buying an additional 307,516 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $778.33 on Thursday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $596.18 and a 1-year high of $845.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.48 and a quick ratio of 3.48. The business’s 50 day moving average is $796.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $768.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $115.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.78, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.37.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 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 analysts’ expectations 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 quarter in the previous year, the business earned $7.93 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total value of $29,498,425.54. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 17,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,910,292.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other BlackRock news, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total value of $765,272.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,574,225.35. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total transaction of $29,498,425.54. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 17,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,910,292.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 67,987 shares of company stock worth $55,353,400 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.