Lodestar Private Asset Management LLC Grows Stake in BlackRock $BLK

Lodestar Private Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 10.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 329 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Lodestar Private Asset Management LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $345,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in BlackRock by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,764,072 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $13,027,419,000 after acquiring an additional 387,466 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in BlackRock by 73.2% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,313,350 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,243,059,000 after acquiring an additional 555,098 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,206,935 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,142,340,000 after acquiring an additional 111,694 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in BlackRock by 32.8% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,131,919 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,071,339,000 after acquiring an additional 279,336 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in BlackRock by 13.2% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 932,899 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $882,970,000 after acquiring an additional 108,473 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on BLK shares. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $980.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,163.00 to $1,312.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,252.00 to $1,301.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,258.56.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $1,132.12 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $1,134.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $1,035.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a current ratio of 4.04. BlackRock has a one year low of $773.74 and a one year high of $1,184.13. The firm has a market cap of $175.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 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 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.41 by $1.64. BlackRock had a net margin of 29.68% and a return on equity of 15.53%. The firm had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $10.36 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict 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 was Friday, September 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.39%.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 owned 61,369 shares in the company, valued at $68,763,964.50. The trade was a 21.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 14,828 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 24th. The stock was 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 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 have sold 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573. 1.98% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.