BlackRock $BLK Shares Bought by Ieq Capital LLC

Ieq Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 6.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,541 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 687 shares during the quarter. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $10,923,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Investment Management Corp VA ADV purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Fairway Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 76.5% during the first quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the first quarter worth about $31,000. Cheviot Value Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the first quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the first quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BLK. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $1,115.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Zacks Research lowered BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,214.00 to $1,224.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,151.21.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.6%

NYSE:BLK opened at $1,133.45 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $175.51 billion, a PE ratio of 27.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.42. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $1,095.68 and a 200-day moving average of $995.51. BlackRock has a 52 week low of $773.74 and a 52 week high of $1,171.89. The company has a current ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.41 by $1.64. The business had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.40 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.53% and a net margin of 29.68%.The business’s revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $10.36 earnings per share. Analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be given a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 50.39%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 61,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,763,964.50. The trade was a 21.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 14,828 shares of the business’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 value of $16,641,167.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 263,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $296,002,472.28. This represents a 5.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573. Corporate insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

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.