Gradient Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK – Get Rating) by 15.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,211 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 2,504 shares during the period. Gradient Investments LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $11,092,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Covestor Ltd purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. KRS Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at about $233,000. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,712 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,567,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 258,887 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $237,026,000 after purchasing an additional 23,778 shares during the period. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,518 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,221,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares during the period. 76.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of analysts have recently weighed in on BLK shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of BlackRock from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 16th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $801.00 to $773.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 27th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $825.00 to $718.00 in a report on Monday, July 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $902.00 to $729.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $830.00 to $710.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $804.46.
BlackRock Price Performance
Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $626.74 on Monday. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $575.60 and a fifty-two week high of $973.16. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $670.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $667.99. The company has a market capitalization of $94.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 3.64 and a current ratio of 3.64.
BlackRock (NYSE:BLK – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $7.36 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.94 by ($0.58). BlackRock had a net margin of 30.12% and a return on equity of 15.74%. The business had revenue of $4.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $10.03 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 33.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.
BlackRock Increases Dividend
The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 7th will be paid a dividend of $4.88 per share. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous dividend of $2.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 6th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.46%.
Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock
In other BlackRock news, President Robert Kapito sold 37,588 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $632.88, for a total transaction of $23,788,693.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 226,680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $143,461,238.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, President Robert Kapito sold 37,588 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $632.88, for a total transaction of $23,788,693.44. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 226,680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $143,461,238.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 44,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $684.61, for a total transaction of $30,465,145.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 563,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $385,963,264.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 83,448 shares of company stock valued at $55,259,953. Corporate insiders own 1.06% of the company’s stock.
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.
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