Lincoln Capital LLC Lowers Holdings in BlackRock $BLK

Lincoln Capital LLC decreased its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 0.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,605 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 24 shares during the period. Lincoln Capital LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $2,734,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of BLK. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 23.1% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,575 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,615,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 1,052 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. JT Stratford LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $211,000. Warm Springs Advisors Inc. bought a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth approximately $745,000. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its position in BlackRock by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 51,192 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $52,475,000 after acquiring an additional 577 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,018.00 to $1,093.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Argus reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen raised BlackRock to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Barclays upped their price target on BlackRock from $990.00 to $1,220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on BlackRock from $959.00 to $1,210.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,154.07.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.5%

BLK opened at $1,142.76 on Friday. BlackRock has a twelve month low of $773.74 and a twelve month high of $1,171.89. The company has a quick ratio of 4.04, a current ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $1,119.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $1,013.18. The company has a market cap of $176.96 billion, a PE ratio of 27.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 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 for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.41 by $1.64. The firm had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.40 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 29.68% and a return on equity of 15.53%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $10.36 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Rachel Lord sold 18,036 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction of $20,301,321.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 19,205 shares in the company, valued at $21,617,148. This trade represents a 48.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director owned 3,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,936,571.86. This represents a 55.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573 over the last quarter. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.