Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC Increases Holdings in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)

Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 1,164.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,954 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,483 shares during the quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $5,635,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,376,606 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,712,493,000 after purchasing an additional 68,405 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,097,524 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,200,450,000 after purchasing an additional 93,844 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 104,598.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,500,083 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,312,759,000 after purchasing an additional 3,496,740 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in BlackRock by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,006,765 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,072,787,000 after acquiring an additional 190,188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its stake in BlackRock by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,390,450 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,450,475,000 after acquiring an additional 26,485 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on BLK. Wall Street Zen raised BlackRock to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,035.00 to $1,105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,096.31.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $912.50, for a total transaction of $9,125,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 66,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,256,025. This trade represents a 13.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.98% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $986.31 on Tuesday. BlackRock has a twelve month low of $773.74 and a twelve month high of $1,084.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $152.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.41. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $950.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $969.00. The company has a current ratio of 4.34, a quick ratio of 4.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.84 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.47 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.57% and a net margin of 30.09%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $9.81 EPS. On average, analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th were issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.63%.

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.