Shell Asset Management Co. Sells 1,488 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Shell Asset Management Co. trimmed its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 50.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,433 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 1,488 shares during the period. Shell Asset Management Co.'s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,469,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in BlackRock by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,376,606 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $13,712,493,000 after acquiring an additional 68,405 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in BlackRock by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,097,524 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $4,200,450,000 after acquiring an additional 93,844 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in 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. FMR LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,390,450 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,450,475,000 after acquiring an additional 26,485 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $2,356,357,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $912.50, for a total value of $9,125,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 66,034 shares of the company's stock, valued at $60,256,025. The trade was a 13.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 12,430 shares of company stock valued at $11,237,249 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.98% of the company's stock.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of BLK stock traded up $4.58 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $998.24. 536,698 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 692,129. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $752.30 and a 12-month high of $1,084.22. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company's 50-day moving average price is $919.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $978.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $154.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.41.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.84 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.47 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $9.81 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be given a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BLK. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,065.00 to $1,035.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of 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. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Friday. They issued a "hold" rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $1,077.08.

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.