American Trust Decreases Position in BlackRock $BLK

American Trust cut its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 21.8% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,665 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 742 shares during the quarter. American Trust’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $2,522,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Detalus Advisors LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 2.8% in the first quarter. Detalus Advisors LLC now owns 409 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $387,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 20.4% in the first quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 65 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 2.1% during the first quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 579 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $548,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 3.0% during the first quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 451 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crumly & Associates Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.5% during the first quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. now owns 864 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $818,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLK has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,018.00 to $1,093.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Argus reissued a “buy” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,180.00 to $1,170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,214.00 to $1,224.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,154.07.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, Director Rachel Lord sold 18,036 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,125.60, for a total value of $20,301,321.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 19,205 shares in the company, valued at $21,617,148. This represents a 48.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 14,828 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,122.28, for a total transaction of $16,641,167.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 263,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $296,002,472.28. The trade was a 5.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573. Company insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $1,104.21 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $1,112.03 and a 200 day moving average of $1,003.20. The company has a current ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $170.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.45. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $773.74 and a 12-month high of $1,171.89.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.41 by $1.64. The company had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.40 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 29.68% and a return on equity of 15.53%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $10.36 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be given a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 50.39%.

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.