BlackRock $BLK Stock Holdings Lessened by Brookstone Capital Management

Brookstone Capital Management lessened its holdings in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,102 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 9 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,156,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in BlackRock by 73.2% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in BlackRock by 2.9% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in BlackRock by 32.8% during the first 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 in the last quarter. McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC bought a new position in BlackRock during the second quarter valued at approximately $231,000. Finally, Unisphere Establishment raised its position in BlackRock by 29.2% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BLK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,093.00 to $1,242.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,163.00 to $1,312.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,280.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,299.29.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 20th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $8,394,113.20. This trade represents a 62.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $1,138.60 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $1,139.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1,053.41. The company has a market cap of $176.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.28, a PEG ratio of 1.97 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 has a 1 year low of $773.74 and a 1 year high of $1,219.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). The company had revenue of $6.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.22 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.36% and a net margin of 26.64%.The company’s revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $11.46 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

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.