QRG Capital Management Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in BlackRock $BLK

QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 35.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,346 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 4,313 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $17,151,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. McLean Asset Management Corp lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 266 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $285,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Oklahoma lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.5% in the second quarter. Trust Co. of Oklahoma now owns 2,023 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,123,000 after buying an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. TOWER TRUST & INVESTMENT Co boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC grew 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 valued at $234,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Detalus Advisors LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Detalus Advisors LLC now owns 409 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $387,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Price Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $1,160.75 on Friday. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $773.74 and a 12-month high of $1,183.50. The company has a current ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $1,129.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $1,028.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $179.74 billion, a PE ratio of 28.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.41 by $1.64. BlackRock had a net margin of 29.68% and a return on equity of 15.53%. The company had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $10.36 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 14,828 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,122.28, for a total transaction of $16,641,167.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 263,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $296,002,472.28. The trade was a 5.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the director directly owned 3,506 shares in the company, valued at $3,936,571.86. This represents a 55.84% 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. Insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLK has been the subject of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,180.00 to $1,170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley cut 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 report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,093.00 to $1,242.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,213.67.

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.