BlackRock $BLK Shares Purchased by Princeton Global Asset Management LLC

Princeton Global Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 39.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 160 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $168,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Welch Group LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.2% in the second quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 760 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $797,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares in the last quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.7% in the second quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 340 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $357,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares in the last quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 3.9% in the second quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 266 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $285,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Oklahoma grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.5% in the second quarter. Trust Co. of Oklahoma now owns 2,023 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,123,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TOWER TRUST & INVESTMENT Co grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.3% in the second quarter. TOWER TRUST & INVESTMENT Co now owns 799 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $838,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on BLK. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,362.00 to $1,486.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Argus raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,165.00 to $1,330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on BlackRock in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $1,280.00 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,310.00 to $1,360.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,300.81.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE:BLK opened at $1,160.01 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.04, a current ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. BlackRock has a 1-year low of $773.74 and a 1-year high of $1,219.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $179.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.45. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,141.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1,046.27.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released 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 net margin of 26.64% and a return on equity of 15.36%. The company had revenue of $6.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $11.46 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were given a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,125.43, for a total value of $13,565,933.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 251,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $283,267,354.71. This represents a 4.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 18,036 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,125.60, for a total value of $20,301,321.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 19,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,617,148. This represents a 48.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573 in the last 90 days. 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.