Janney Capital Management LLC Has $3.63 Million Holdings in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)

Janney Capital Management LLC cut its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 6.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,832 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 266 shares during the period. Janney Capital Management LLC's holdings in BlackRock were worth $3,627,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in BlackRock by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,376,606 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $13,712,493,000 after purchasing an additional 68,405 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,097,524 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $4,200,450,000 after buying an additional 93,844 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 104,598.9% in the 1st 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. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,006,765 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $3,072,787,000 after acquiring an additional 190,188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,390,450 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,450,475,000 after purchasing an additional 26,485 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK stock traded up $0.01 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $979.53. 228,174 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 689,034. The company's 50 day moving average price is $946.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $970.82. The company has a market cap of $151.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.83, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.41. BlackRock has a 12 month low of $773.74 and a 12 month high of $1,084.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 4.34 and a current ratio of 4.34.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $10.84 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.47 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.57% and a net margin of 30.09%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $9.81 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. BlackRock's payout ratio is 50.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on BLK shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,124.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Wall Street Zen raised BlackRock to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. UBS Group cut their price target on BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $1,096.31.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 24th. The shares were 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 now directly owns 66,034 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,256,025. This trade represents a 13.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.98% of the company's stock.

About BlackRock

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.