Wellington Shields & Co. LLC Trims Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Wellington Shields & Co. LLC lowered its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,327 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 37 shares during the period. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,045,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Lam Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Fairman Group LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 27,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $834.42, for a total value of $22,529,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,407,041.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Pamela Daley sold 1,531 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $842.08, for a total transaction of $1,289,224.48. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,732 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,826,802.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 27,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $834.42, for a total value of $22,529,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,407,041.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 93,042 shares of company stock valued at $79,387,117. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $883.79 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $852.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $812.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $131.33 billion, a PE ratio of 22.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.30. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $596.18 and a 52-week high of $903.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a current ratio of 5.06.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $10.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.96 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $4.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.85 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.44% and a net margin of 32.36%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $9.28 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.31%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 51.84%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the topic of several analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $912.00 to $937.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Citigroup increased their price objective on BlackRock from $920.00 to $930.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $985.00 to $990.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $920.00 to $945.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $915.00 to $934.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $883.47.

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.