Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Acquires 99 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 1.3% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 7,937 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $8,328,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Fairway Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 76.5% in the first quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the period. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% during the first quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 200.0% during the second quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 27 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Cheviot Value Management LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the first quarter worth $30,000. Finally, MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the first quarter worth $31,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director owned 61,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,763,964.50. This trade represents a 21.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,122.81, for a total transaction of $4,978,539.54. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,506 shares in the company, valued at $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 quarter, insiders sold 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573. Company insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BLK. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,224.00 to $1,396.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,221.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,163.00 to $1,312.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,210.00 to $1,310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,263.31.

BlackRock Trading Up 2.1%

NYSE BLK opened at $1,156.20 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $1,135.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $1,037.02. 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 stock has a market cap of $179.04 billion, a PE ratio of 27.95, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.45. BlackRock has a 12 month low of $773.74 and a 12 month high of $1,184.13.

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

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

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