Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Sells 153 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. reduced its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,304 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 153 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $5,256,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BLK. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC bought a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA raised its stake in BlackRock by 208.3% during the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 37 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $930.00 price objective (up previously from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group boosted their price target on BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $845.42.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $807.29, for a total transaction of $25,008,229.62. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 383,168 shares in the company, valued at $309,327,694.72. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $807.29, for a total transaction of $25,008,229.62. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 383,168 shares in the company, valued at $309,327,694.72. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total transaction of $7,155,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,151,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

BlackRock stock traded up $6.19 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $787.32. 769,459 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 564,991. The company has a market capitalization of $117.00 billion, a PE ratio of 20.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.34. The business has a fifty day moving average of $779.33 and a 200 day moving average of $792.66. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $596.18 and a 1-year high of $845.00. The company has a quick ratio of 5.32, a current ratio of 5.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its 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 business had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.24%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $7.93 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.25 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th were given a dividend of $5.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.59%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.84%.

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.