Blue Trust Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in BlackRock $BLK

Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 52.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 964 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 331 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,011,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BLK. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 23.1% during the fourth 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 fourth 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. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 1st quarter worth $674,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 10.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,698 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,500,000 after buying an additional 355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CX Institutional grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. CX Institutional now owns 471 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $446,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Price Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $1,132.12 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $175.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 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 has a 1 year low of $773.74 and a 1 year high of $1,184.13. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $1,134.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $1,035.09.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.41 by $1.64. The company had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 previous year, the company earned $10.36 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were given a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 50.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on BLK shares. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $980.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,160.00 to $1,265.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,258.56.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,936,571.86. The trade was a 55.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,125.43, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 4.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders 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.

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.