BlackRock $BLK Shares Purchased by Baxter Bros Inc.

Baxter Bros Inc. boosted its holdings in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 25.5% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,921 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 594 shares during the period. Baxter Bros Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $3,065,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Securian Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 1st quarter worth about $7,331,000. Prudent Man Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 1st quarter worth about $2,018,000. Allianz SE raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Allianz SE now owns 11,025 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,435,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 1st quarter worth about $40,868,000. Finally, Community Financial Services Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 17.2% in the 1st quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 5,702 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,397,000 after purchasing an additional 836 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Zacks Research downgraded BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $980.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,252.00 to $1,301.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,254.47.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $1,163.72 on Thursday. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $773.74 and a fifty-two week high of $1,184.13. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $1,132.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $1,032.16. The company has a quick ratio of 4.04, a current ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market cap of $180.21 billion, a PE ratio of 28.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.45.

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

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were given a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.39%.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,936,571.86. This trade represents a 55.84% decrease in their position. The sale 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 BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 24th. The stock was 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 owned 263,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $296,002,472.28. The trade was a 5.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

About BlackRock

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.