Beacon Financial Advisory LLC Raises Holdings in BlackRock $BLK

Beacon Financial Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 252 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 13 shares during the quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $265,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Securian Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the 1st quarter worth about $7,331,000. Prudent Man Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the first quarter worth about $2,018,000. Allianz SE grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 2.6% during the first quarter. Allianz SE now owns 11,025 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,435,000 after buying an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the first quarter valued at approximately $40,868,000. Finally, Community Financial Services Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 17.2% during the first quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 5,702 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,397,000 after buying an additional 836 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $980.00 price target on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Citigroup increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,222.87.

BlackRock Trading Up 1.7%

NYSE BLK opened at $1,179.86 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $182.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.53, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a current ratio of 4.04. BlackRock has a one year low of $773.74 and a one year high of $1,184.13. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $1,130.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $1,030.30.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. BlackRock had a net margin of 29.68% and a return on equity of 15.53%. The company had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $10.36 earnings per share. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Rachel Lord sold 18,036 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,125.60, for a total transaction of $20,301,321.60. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 19,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,617,148. The trade was a 48.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 14,828 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,122.28, for a total value of $16,641,167.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 263,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $296,002,472.28. This represents a 5.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573. Company insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

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.