Wellington Shields & Co. LLC Has $1.37 Million Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Wellington Shields & Co. LLC lessened its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,334 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 14 shares during the period. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,367,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. United Bank lifted its position in BlackRock by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 1,121 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,064,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. Versor Investments LP acquired a new position in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth $285,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth $334,000. Empower Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in BlackRock by 91.7% during the 3rd quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 736 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $699,000 after acquiring an additional 352 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oak Harbor Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth $205,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $928.74 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $144.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.11, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.29. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $983.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $985.61. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,084.22. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $9.66 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.24%. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.62%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on BLK shares. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total transaction of $408,229.10. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,531,656.40. This represents a 10.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

BlackRock Company 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.