Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 261 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,493 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 261 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,723,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Fairfield Bush & CO. purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the first quarter valued at about $115,000. United Bank lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 17.1% during the first quarter. United Bank now owns 1,287 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $983,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.6% during the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,978 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,512,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 35.4% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,025 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $783,000 after buying an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 11.7% during the first quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,452 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,110,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. 77.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $716.86 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $106.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.11, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $596.18 and a 12 month high of $781.77. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $651.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $676.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 3.72 and a quick ratio of 3.72.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 13th. The asset manager reported $10.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.34 by $2.57. BlackRock had a net margin of 30.66% and a return on equity of 14.65%. The firm had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $9.55 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 36.44 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 7th will be paid a $5.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 6th. This represents a $20.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.79%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.10%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $836.00 to $897.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $820.00 to $720.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 4th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $781.00 to $754.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 10th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $814.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $764.75.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 15,385 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Monday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $652.03, for a total value of $10,031,481.55. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 435,260 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $283,802,577.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.96% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.