Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC Raises Position in BlackRock $BLK

Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 20.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 675 shares during the period. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $4,193,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Birchbrook Inc. bought a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA bought a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 866.7% in the third quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. now owns 29 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Collier Financial purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter worth $37,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on BlackRock from $1,269.00 to $1,128.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,351.00 to $1,199.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Barclays raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,290.00 to $1,310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Weiss Ratings raised BlackRock from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,269.06.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $1,073.03 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $1,021.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $1,053.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a current ratio of 4.09. The stock has a market cap of $166.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.93, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.44. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $917.39 and a fifty-two week high of $1,219.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 14th. The asset manager reported $12.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $12.40 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $6.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.56 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 24.40% and a return on equity of 14.74%. The business’s revenue was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $9.64 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that BlackRock will post 52.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a $5.73 dividend. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 57.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 33,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,050.55, for a total transaction of $35,613,645.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 230,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $242,168,583.80. This represents a 12.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President Robert Kapito sold 8,739 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,056.60, for a total transaction of $9,233,627.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the president directly owned 210,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $222,082,527.60. The trade was a 3.99% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 1.92% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Profile

BlackRock, Inc is a global investment management firm that provides a broad range of products and services to institutional, intermediary and individual investors. Its core activities include portfolio management across active and index strategies, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) under the iShares brand, fixed income, equity and multi-asset solutions, as well as alternatives such as private equity, real estate and infrastructure. The firm also offers cash management and liquidity solutions and retirement-focused products designed for defined contribution and defined benefit investors.

In addition to traditional investment management, BlackRock is known for its technology and risk management capabilities, most prominently its Aladdin platform, which combines portfolio management, trading and risk analytics and is used both internally and licensed to external clients.