Howard Capital Management Inc. Increases Position in BlackRock $BLK

Howard Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 37.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,144 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 312 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,200,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fairway Wealth LLC increased its stake in BlackRock by 76.5% in the 1st quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% during the first quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 200.0% during the second quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 27 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Cheviot Value Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the first quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 107.1% during the 2nd quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 29 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on BLK shares. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,280.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price objective 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, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,093.00 to $1,242.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. 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.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $1,125.20 on Wednesday. BlackRock has a 52 week low of $773.74 and a 52 week high of $1,219.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $174.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.93, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.45. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,139.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1,058.01. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $6.22 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.36% and a net margin of 26.64%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $11.46 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other news, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director owned 7,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,394,113.20. The trade was a 62.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

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.