PB Investment Partners L.P. Invests $10.87 Million in BlackRock $BLK

PB Investment Partners L.P. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 10,359 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $10,869,000. BlackRock accounts for 7.4% of PB Investment Partners L.P.’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Welch Group LLC lifted its position in BlackRock by 1.2% in the second quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 760 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $797,000 after buying an additional 9 shares during the last quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp increased its stake in BlackRock by 3.9% during 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 during the period. Trust Co. of Oklahoma increased its stake in BlackRock by 0.5% during 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 during the period. TOWER TRUST & INVESTMENT Co increased its stake in BlackRock by 1.3% during 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 during the period. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC increased its stake in BlackRock by 4.7% during the second quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 223 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $234,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BLK. Zacks Research lowered shares of BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $1,320.00 price target on shares of BlackRock and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,163.00 to $1,312.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price target 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, October 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $1,280.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,300.81.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Rachel Lord sold 18,036 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director directly owned 19,205 shares in the company, valued at $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 SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $3,936,571.86. This represents a 55.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573. Company insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.6%

BLK stock opened at $1,201.37 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $1,138.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $1,039.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a current ratio of 4.04. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $773.74 and a fifty-two week high of $1,219.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $186.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.89, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its 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 return on equity of 15.36% and a net margin of 26.64%.The firm had revenue of $6.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $11.46 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.39%.

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.