WBH Advisory Inc. Reduces Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

WBH Advisory Inc. cut its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,034 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 49 shares during the quarter. WBH Advisory Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $814,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 96.0% in the fourth quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 49 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 32.0% during the fourth quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 421 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $342,000 after buying an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth $3,526,000. Tobam raised its holdings in BlackRock by 2,388.9% in the fourth quarter. Tobam now owns 224 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $182,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 754.5% during the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 17,210 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $13,972,000 after acquiring an additional 15,196 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK stock traded down $1.54 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $853.29. The stock had a trading volume of 16,976 shares, compared to its average volume of 605,723. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 5.32 and a quick ratio of 5.32. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $808.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $799.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $126.80 billion, a PE ratio of 21.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.32. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $596.18 and a twelve month high of $885.10.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $10.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.96 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $4.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.85 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.36% and a return on equity of 15.53%. BlackRock’s revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $9.28 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.23 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a dividend of $5.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.39%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.84%.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 29,450 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $843.25, for a total transaction of $24,833,712.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,718 shares in the company, valued at $298,272,703.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 29,450 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $843.25, for a total value of $24,833,712.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,718 shares in the company, valued at $298,272,703.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 27,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $834.42, for a total value of $22,529,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,407,041.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 88,959 shares of company stock valued at $73,660,507. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BLK. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $915.00 to $934.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on BlackRock from $974.00 to $969.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on BlackRock from $1,025.00 to $1,013.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Citigroup upped their price target on BlackRock from $920.00 to $930.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $910.00 to $920.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $872.29.

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.