Austin Private Wealth LLC Raises Stake in BlackRock $BLK

Austin Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 6.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 606 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 38 shares during the quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $636,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake 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 period. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake 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 period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 111,694 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake 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 period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 108,473 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of BLK opened at $1,125.20 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $1,139.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $1,058.01. BlackRock has a twelve month low of $773.74 and a twelve month high of $1,219.94. The stock has a market cap of $174.24 billion, a PE ratio of 28.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 4.04, a current 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 for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $11.78 by ($0.23). BlackRock had a net margin of 26.64% and a return on equity of 15.36%. The company had revenue of $6.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $11.46 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,093.00 to $1,242.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,362.00 to $1,486.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Barclays boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,310.00 to $1,360.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. 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. Finally, Zacks Research cut BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,299.29.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In related news, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director directly owned 7,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,394,113.20. This represents a 62.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Company 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.