Ameriflex Group Inc. Increases Stock Position in BlackRock $BLK

Ameriflex Group Inc. grew its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 8.8% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 123 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the period. Ameriflex Group Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $127,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings 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 worth $1,243,059,000 after buying an additional 555,098 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in BlackRock by 2.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,764,072 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,027,419,000 after buying an additional 387,466 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 worth $1,071,339,000 after buying an additional 279,336 shares during the last quarter. Unisphere Establishment increased its holdings in BlackRock by 29.2% during the first quarter. Unisphere Establishment now owns 839,500 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $794,570,000 after buying an additional 189,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in BlackRock by 58.8% during the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 381,447 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $361,032,000 after buying an additional 141,258 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $68,763,964.50. This trade represents a 21.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 14,828 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,122.28, for a total transaction of $16,641,167.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 263,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $296,002,472.28. This trade represents a 5.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573 over the last ninety days. 1.98% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,163.00 to $1,312.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,093.00 to $1,242.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $959.00 to $1,210.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,213.67.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK stock opened at $1,160.75 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $1,129.67 and a 200-day moving average of $1,028.18. 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 12 month low of $773.74 and a 12 month high of $1,183.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $179.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.41 by $1.64. BlackRock had a net margin of 29.68% and a return on equity of 15.53%. The company had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.40 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $10.36 earnings per share. BlackRock’s revenue was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were given a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.