Norges Bank Takes Position in BlackRock $BLK

Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,519,902 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $2,644,007,000. Norges Bank owned about 1.63% of BlackRock at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 105,267.4% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,705,899 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,789,915,000 after acquiring an additional 1,704,280 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 72.5% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,005,358 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,104,122,000 after purchasing an additional 842,901 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 73.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 555,098 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in BlackRock by 2.9% in the 1st 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 period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in BlackRock by 32.8% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,131,919 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,071,339,000 after buying an additional 279,336 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE:BLK opened at $1,041.18 on Friday. BlackRock has a 12 month low of $773.74 and a 12 month high of $1,219.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 4.04 and a quick ratio of 4.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $161.54 billion, a PE ratio of 26.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.48. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $1,109.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $1,080.30.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $11.78 by ($0.23). BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.36% and a net margin of 26.64%.The business had revenue of $6.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $11.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,165.04, for a total value of $13,980,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 7,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,394,113.20. This represents a 62.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Argus increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,165.00 to $1,330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,362.00 to $1,486.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,160.00 to $1,265.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on BlackRock from $1,312.00 to $1,305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,394.00 to $1,456.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,302.59.

BlackRock 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.