Wealthstream Advisors Inc. Purchases Shares of 215 BlackRock $BLK

Wealthstream Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 215 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $226,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BLK. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 555,098 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 387,466 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 279,336 shares during the last quarter. McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 2nd quarter valued at about $231,000. Finally, Unisphere Establishment lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 29.2% in the 1st quarter. Unisphere Establishment now owns 839,500 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $794,570,000 after acquiring an additional 189,500 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,122.81, for a total value of $4,978,539.54. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,506 shares in the company, valued at $3,936,571.86. This represents a 55.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 18,036 shares of the 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 value of $20,301,321.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 19,205 shares in the company, valued at $21,617,148. This represents a 48.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $1,320.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Argus upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,165.00 to $1,330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,300.81.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $1,161.63 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $179.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.45. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $773.74 and a fifty-two week high of $1,219.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 4.04 and a quick ratio of 4.04. The business’s 50-day moving average is $1,140.85 and its 200-day moving average is $1,042.82.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.78 by ($0.23). The business had revenue of $6.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.22 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 26.64% and a return on equity of 15.36%. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $11.46 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were issued a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.59%.

About BlackRock

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.