Boston Trust Walden Corp Acquires 8,744 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 29.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 38,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,744 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $40,535,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of BLK. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in BlackRock by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,764,072 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $13,027,419,000 after buying an additional 387,466 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in BlackRock by 73.2% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,313,350 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,243,059,000 after buying an additional 555,098 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in BlackRock by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,206,935 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,142,340,000 after buying an additional 111,694 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in BlackRock by 32.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,131,919 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,071,339,000 after buying an additional 279,336 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in BlackRock by 13.2% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 932,899 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $882,970,000 after buying an additional 108,473 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,252.00 to $1,301.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research lowered BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Argus restated a “buy” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $980.00 price target on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,263.31.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $1,193.23 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $184.77 billion, a PE ratio of 28.85, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.45. BlackRock has a 12 month low of $773.74 and a 12 month high of $1,209.82. 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’s fifty day simple moving average is $1,137.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1,038.10.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $11.78 by ($0.23). The business had revenue of $6.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.22 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.53% and a net margin of 29.68%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $11.46 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.39%.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,120.50, for a total value of $19,207,611.00. Following the sale, the director 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,125.43, for a total value of $13,565,933.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 251,697 shares in the company, valued at $283,267,354.71. This represents a 4.57% 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.

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.