Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. Sells 131 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lessened its holdings in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 1.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,785 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 131 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $7,119,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Securian Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the first quarter valued at about $7,331,000. Prudent Man Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the first quarter valued at about $2,018,000. Allianz SE boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.6% during the first quarter. Allianz SE now owns 11,025 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,435,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the first quarter valued at about $40,868,000. Finally, Weil Company Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 194.6% in the first quarter. Weil Company Inc. now owns 2,074 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,963,000 after acquiring an additional 1,370 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on BLK shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,093.00 to $1,242.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,160.00 to $1,265.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $1,320.00 price objective on BlackRock and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,280.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,299.29.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $1,127.42 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,140.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1,047.41. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $773.74 and a 12-month high of $1,219.94. The company has a market capitalization of $174.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a current ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $11.78 by ($0.23). BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.36% and a net margin of 26.64%.The company had revenue of $6.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $11.46 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,125.43, for a total transaction of $13,565,933.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 251,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $283,267,354.71. This represents a 4.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,165.04, for a total value of $13,980,480.00. Following the sale, the director owned 7,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,394,113.20. This trade represents a 62.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 59,232 shares of company stock worth $67,055,346. 1.98% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.