Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH Sells 967 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH lowered its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 1.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 69,327 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 967 shares during the quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $72,742,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in BlackRock by 73.2% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,313,350 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,243,059,000 after buying an additional 555,098 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 387,466 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 279,336 shares during the last quarter. Unisphere Establishment increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 29.2% in the first quarter. Unisphere Establishment now owns 839,500 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $794,570,000 after purchasing an additional 189,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 58.8% in the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 381,447 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $361,032,000 after purchasing an additional 141,258 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other news, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,122.81, for a total value of $4,978,539.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,936,571.86. This represents a 55.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,120.50, for a total transaction of $19,207,611.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 61,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,763,964.50. This trade represents a 21.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573 over the last three months. 1.98% of the stock is owned by insiders.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.9%

BLK opened at $1,157.69 on Friday. BlackRock has a twelve month low of $773.74 and a twelve month high of $1,171.89. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,124.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1,020.52. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $179.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 29.68% and a return on equity of 15.53%. The business had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.40 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $10.36 earnings per share. BlackRock’s revenue was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BLK. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $990.00 to $1,220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Zacks Research cut shares of BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,154.07.

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.