Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Sells 775 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 14.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,598 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 775 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $4,713,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter worth $518,000. Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,904,000. Raymond James Trust N.A. boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.3% during the third quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 27,092 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $25,724,000 after buying an additional 614 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC raised its position in BlackRock by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 68,466 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $65,010,000 after buying an additional 1,852 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 20.4% in the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,338 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,169,000 after acquiring an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on BLK shares. Barclays decreased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,245.00 to $1,261.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,100.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $6,777,432. This represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total value of $56,485,620.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at $43,845,393.48. This trade represents a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.2 %

BLK opened at $1,015.01 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 5.06, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $1,029.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $943.81. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $745.55 and a 1-year high of $1,082.45. The company has a market cap of $157.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.37% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $9.66 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a dividend of $5.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 50.35%.

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.