BlackRock $BLK Shares Acquired by Community Financial Services Group LLC

Community Financial Services Group LLC lifted its position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 0.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,717 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $5,999,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BLK. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 23.1% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,575 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,615,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 1,052 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,078,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the period. RFG Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the first quarter worth about $1,120,000. Greenfield Savings Bank increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 12.2% during the first quarter. Greenfield Savings Bank now owns 1,137 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,076,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Management Professionals Inc. grew its position in BlackRock by 3.0% during the first quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 451 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 13 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,120.50, for a total transaction of $19,207,611.00. Following the sale, the director owned 61,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,763,964.50. This trade represents a 21.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,936,571.86. This trade represents a 55.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on BLK. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $990.00 to $1,220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,018.00 to $1,093.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $980.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,171.93.

BlackRock Stock Down 2.0%

BLK stock opened at $1,142.33 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $1,128.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1,024.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $176.89 billion, a PE ratio of 27.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.45. BlackRock has a 12 month low of $773.74 and a 12 month high of $1,183.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 4.04 and a quick ratio of 4.04.

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

BlackRock Announces Dividend

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

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.