BlackRock $BLK Shares Acquired by EP Wealth Advisors LLC

EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 2.3% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 62,463 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,384 shares during the quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $65,540,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of BLK. Westerkirk Capital Inc. bought a new position in BlackRock in the second quarter worth about $2,877,000. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 7.9% during the second quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 23,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $24,308,000 after purchasing an additional 1,693 shares during the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 256,937 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $269,591,000 after purchasing an additional 19,404 shares during the period. Opus Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,420,000. Finally, Ally Financial Inc. acquired a new position in BlackRock during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,893,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of the business’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 sale, the director directly owned 7,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,394,113.20. The trade was a 62.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Martin Small sold 1,258 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,043.38, for a total transaction of $1,312,572.04. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 6,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,478,346.42. This trade represents a 16.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on BLK shares. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,301.00 to $1,407.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $1,313.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,313.65.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $1,088.99 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $168.96 billion, a PE ratio of 28.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a quick ratio of 3.33, a current ratio of 3.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $1,092.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $1,087.56. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $773.74 and a 52-week high of $1,219.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.78 by ($0.23). BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.80% and a net margin of 26.64%.The company 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 company posted $11.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be given a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.59%.

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.