Equitable Trust Co. Sells 14 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Equitable Trust Co. trimmed its position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 0.5% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,896 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 14 shares during the quarter. Equitable Trust Co.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $3,039,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in BlackRock by 2.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,764,072 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,027,419,000 after purchasing an additional 387,466 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 73.2% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,313,350 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,243,059,000 after purchasing an additional 555,098 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 10.2% during the first 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 purchasing an additional 111,694 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 32.8% in the first 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 during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 13.2% in the first 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 during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on BLK shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,221.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. 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, October 8th. Bank of America boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,224.00 to $1,396.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Barclays increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,210.00 to $1,310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,263.31.

BlackRock Trading Up 2.1%

BlackRock stock opened at $1,156.20 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $179.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.45. 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 12 month low of $773.74 and a 12 month high of $1,184.13. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $1,135.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1,037.02.

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

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio is 50.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In related news, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 24th. The shares were 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 approximately $3,936,571.86. This trade represents a 55.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 14,828 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated 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 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.