SPC Financial Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in BlackRock $BLK

SPC Financial Inc. lowered its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 5.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 207 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 13 shares during the quarter. SPC Financial Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $217,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

BlackRock Price Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $1,132.12 on Monday. BlackRock has a one year low of $773.74 and a one year high of $1,184.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a current ratio of 4.04. The business has a fifty day moving average of $1,134.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $1,035.56. The company has a market cap of $175.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.45.

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

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend 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

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on BLK shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Barclays increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,210.00 to $1,310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. BNP Paribas Exane increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,160.00 to $1,265.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,221.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,258.56.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,122.81, for a total transaction of $4,978,539.54. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,506 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,936,571.86. This trade represents a 55.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,120.50, for a total value of $19,207,611.00. Following 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573. Corporate insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

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.