Aviance Capital Partners LLC Sells 715 Shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)

Aviance Capital Partners LLC lowered its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 8.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,219 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 715 shares during the quarter. BlackRock comprises approximately 1.1% of Aviance Capital Partners LLC's holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Aviance Capital Partners LLC's holdings in BlackRock were worth $7,779,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 104,598.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,500,083 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $3,312,759,000 after acquiring an additional 3,496,740 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $2,356,357,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 401.5% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,095,241 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,122,743,000 after acquiring an additional 876,836 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 138,682.5% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 634,236 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $634,000 after acquiring an additional 633,779 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $572,730,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $912.50, for a total transaction of $9,125,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 66,034 shares in the company, valued at $60,256,025. The trade was a 13.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on BLK shares. UBS Group dropped their price target on BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,105.00 to $1,180.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup dropped their price target on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Barclays lifted their price target on BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised BlackRock to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $1,110.92.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:BLK traded up $5.71 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $1,076.28. The company had a trading volume of 342,684 shares, compared to its average volume of 696,095. The business's 50 day moving average price is $979.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $969.29. The stock has a market cap of $166.75 billion, a PE ratio of 26.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a quick ratio of 4.34, a current ratio of 4.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. BlackRock has a 1-year low of $773.74 and a 1-year high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $10.84 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $5.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.47 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.57% and a net margin of 30.09%. The business's revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $9.81 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th were given a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 5th. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.63%.

BlackRock 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.