Lion Street Advisors LLC Grows Position in BlackRock $BLK

Lion Street Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 18.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 308 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. Lion Street Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $323,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,764,072 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $13,027,419,000 after buying an additional 387,466 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in BlackRock by 73.2% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,313,350 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,243,059,000 after acquiring an additional 555,098 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,206,935 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,142,340,000 after acquiring an additional 111,694 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in BlackRock by 32.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,131,919 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,071,339,000 after acquiring an additional 279,336 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in BlackRock by 13.2% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 932,899 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $882,970,000 after purchasing an additional 108,473 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 2.1%

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $1,156.20 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $1,135.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $1,037.02. 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 has a twelve month low of $773.74 and a twelve month high of $1,184.13. The stock has a market cap of $179.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.41 by $1.64. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.53% and a net margin of 29.68%.The company had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.40 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $10.36 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on BlackRock from $1,180.00 to $1,170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,224.00 to $1,396.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,221.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. 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 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,263.31.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Rachel Lord sold 18,036 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,125.60, for a total value of $20,301,321.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 19,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,617,148. This represents a 48.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,122.81, for a total transaction of $4,978,539.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,936,571.86. This trade represents a 55.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573 in the last 90 days. 1.98% of the stock is owned by insiders.

BlackRock Company 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.