J. W. Coons Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

J. W. Coons Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,366 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 107 shares during the period. BlackRock comprises about 1.1% of J. W. Coons Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest position. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $4,476,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BLK. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Collier Financial purchased a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock in the third quarter worth $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,777,432. This represents a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total value of $10,100,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,117,330. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 110,190 shares of company stock worth $115,163,141 in the last ninety days. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $974.97 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $151.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $1,011.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $978.98. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. 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 company earned $9.66 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $5.21 dividend. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays lowered their target price on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

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.