Clarity Financial LLC Buys New Stake in BlackRock $BLK

Clarity Financial LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 7,988 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $8,382,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Garde Capital Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 200.0% in the 2nd quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 27 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Fairway Wealth LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 76.5% in the 1st quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 100.0% in the 1st quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the 1st quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Cheviot Value Management LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the 1st quarter worth $30,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,120.50, for a total value of $19,207,611.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 61,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,763,964.50. This represents a 21.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 251,697 shares in the company, valued at $283,267,354.71. The trade was a 4.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573. Company insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $1,142.33 on Thursday. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $773.74 and a 52-week high of $1,183.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $176.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.62, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,128.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1,024.88. 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 (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.41 by $1.64. BlackRock had a net margin of 29.68% and a return on equity of 15.53%. The business had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.40 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $10.36 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were issued a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 is currently 50.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on BLK. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $1,115.00 price target on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,180.00 to $1,170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Zacks Research lowered shares of BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,171.93.

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.