W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co Lowers Stock Position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)

W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co lowered its position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 15.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,835 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,458 shares during the quarter. BlackRock comprises approximately 1.4% of W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $13,095,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Fairway Wealth LLC lifted its position in BlackRock by 76.5% during the first quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 13 shares during the period. Investment Management Corp VA ADV purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $912.50, for a total value of $9,125,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.98% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on BLK shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $1,115.00 price target on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $980.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen raised BlackRock to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on BlackRock from $1,180.00 to $1,170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,151.21.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK opened at $1,101.82 on Wednesday. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $773.74 and a 12-month high of $1,119.19. The company has a current ratio of 4.34, a quick ratio of 4.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $1,013.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $972.65. The company has a market capitalization of $170.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.64, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.41.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.41 by $1.64. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.83% and a net margin of 29.68%. The business had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.40 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $10.36 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th were paid a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.89%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.39%.

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.