Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC Cuts Stake in BlackRock $BLK

Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 3.8% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 5,767 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 230 shares during the period. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $6,051,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of BLK. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 23.1% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,575 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,615,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 1,052 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,078,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,120,000. Portside Wealth Group LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the 1st quarter valued at about $277,000. Finally, Clare Market Investments LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,321,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLK has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,093.00 to $1,242.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Zacks Research lowered shares of BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,180.00 to $1,170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,194.86.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,122.81, for a total value of $4,978,539.54. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,936,571.86. This represents a 55.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,120.50, for a total transaction of $19,207,611.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 61,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,763,964.50. This represents a 21.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $1,160.23 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $179.66 billion, a PE ratio of 28.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.45. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $773.74 and a 52-week high of $1,183.50. The company has a quick ratio of 4.04, a current ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company’s 50 day moving average is $1,128.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1,026.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.41 by $1.64. The company had revenue of $5.42 billion for 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $10.36 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 50.39%.

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.