Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Has $4.27 Million Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lessened its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 1.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,514 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 84 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $4,272,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BLK. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $128,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA increased its stake in BlackRock by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 1,279 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,311,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. increased its stake in BlackRock by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 368 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $377,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in BlackRock by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC now owns 127 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $130,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. increased its stake in BlackRock by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 534 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $542,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $912.50, for a total transaction of $9,125,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 66,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,256,025. This trade represents a 13.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.98% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on BLK. Bank of America reduced their target price on BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. TD Cowen reduced their target price on BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,065.00 to $1,035.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BlackRock to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,077.08.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK stock opened at $982.93 on Wednesday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $752.30 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22. The company has a market cap of $152.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.40, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.41. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $922.81 and a 200 day moving average of $974.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $9.81 earnings per share. BlackRock’s revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th will be paid a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 50.63%.

About BlackRock

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.