Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. Sells 68 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. reduced its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 7.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 832 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 68 shares during the quarter. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $853,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BLK. IAG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Collier Financial bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $40,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLK has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Friday, May 16th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,077.08.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $998.24 on Wednesday. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $752.30 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $154.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.41. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $919.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $978.24.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.84 by $0.46. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The firm had revenue of $5.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $9.81 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be given a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.09%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total transaction of $408,229.10. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,531,656.40. The trade was a 10.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 12,430 shares of company stock worth $11,237,249 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.98% 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.