Trust Co. of Vermont Cuts Position in BlackRock $BLK

Trust Co. of Vermont cut its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 1.1% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 27,742 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 310 shares during the quarter. BlackRock comprises about 1.4% of Trust Co. of Vermont’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position. Trust Co. of Vermont’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $29,108,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Garde Capital Inc. grew its stake in BlackRock by 200.0% during the 2nd quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 27 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 76.5% during 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 during the last quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 100.0% during the 1st quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock during the 1st quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Cheviot Value Management LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock during the 1st quarter worth $30,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Citigroup boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Barclays lifted their price target on BlackRock from $990.00 to $1,220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $980.00 price target on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Argus reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,171.93.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,122.81, for a total value of $4,978,539.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,936,571.86. The trade was a 55.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 14,828 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,122.28, for a total value of $16,641,167.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 263,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $296,002,472.28. This trade represents a 5.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573. Corporate insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $1,166.35 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $180.61 billion, a PE ratio of 28.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.45. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,127.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1,024.07. 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 has a 52-week low of $773.74 and a 52-week high of $1,183.50.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.41 by $1.64. The business had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.40 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.53% and a net margin of 29.68%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $10.36 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were issued a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 50.39%.

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.