Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS Buys 23 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS lifted its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,289 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the period. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,352,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 73.2% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,313,350 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,243,059,000 after purchasing an additional 555,098 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in BlackRock by 2.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,764,072 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,027,419,000 after buying an additional 387,466 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in BlackRock by 32.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,131,919 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,071,339,000 after buying an additional 279,336 shares during the period. McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 2nd quarter valued at $231,000. Finally, Unisphere Establishment lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 29.2% during the 1st quarter. Unisphere Establishment now owns 839,500 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $794,570,000 after acquiring an additional 189,500 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. BNP Paribas Exane upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,160.00 to $1,265.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,299.29.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,165.04, for a total value of $13,980,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 7,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,394,113.20. This trade represents a 62.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,120.50, for a total transaction of $19,207,611.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 61,369 shares in the company, valued at $68,763,964.50. The trade was a 21.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.98% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Stock Up 1.2%

NYSE BLK opened at $1,138.60 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $1,139.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1,054.51. BlackRock has a one year low of $773.74 and a one year high of $1,219.94. The firm has a market cap of $176.32 billion, a PE ratio of 29.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 4.04 and a quick ratio of 4.04.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.78 by ($0.23). BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.36% and a net margin of 26.64%.The business had revenue of $6.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $11.46 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.