Cantillon Capital Management LLC Purchases 48,173 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Cantillon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 10.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 516,027 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 48,173 shares during the period. BlackRock comprises 3.1% of Cantillon Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Cantillon Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.33% of BlackRock worth $541,441,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 73.2% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,313,350 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,243,059,000 after purchasing an additional 555,098 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,764,072 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,027,419,000 after buying an additional 387,466 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of 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. McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 2nd quarter valued at about $231,000. Finally, Unisphere Establishment grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 189,500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on BLK shares. BNP Paribas Exane upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,160.00 to $1,265.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. TD Cowen upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,301.00 to $1,407.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $1,320.00 price target on BlackRock and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,299.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 263,751 shares in the company, valued at approximately $296,002,472.28. This represents a 5.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,120.50, for a total value of $19,207,611.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 61,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,763,964.50. The trade was a 21.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573. Insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Down 2.5%

BLK stock opened at $1,130.70 on Wednesday. BlackRock has a twelve month low of $773.74 and a twelve month high of $1,219.94. The company has a quick ratio of 4.04, a current ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $1,140.89 and its 200-day moving average is $1,046.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $175.09 billion, a PE ratio of 29.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted 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 company had revenue of $6.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.22 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 26.64% and a return on equity of 15.36%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $11.46 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.