BlackRock $BLK Stock Holdings Lessened by Praxis Investment Management Inc.

Praxis Investment Management Inc. trimmed its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 1.5% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,332 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 50 shares during the quarter. Praxis Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $3,496,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Fairway Wealth LLC lifted its position in BlackRock by 76.5% in 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 in the last quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% during the first quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 200.0% during the second quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 27 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Cheviot Value Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BLK. Barclays lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,310.00 to $1,360.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $1,320.00 target price on shares of BlackRock and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,362.00 to $1,486.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,301.00 to $1,407.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,163.00 to $1,312.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given 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 a consensus target price of $1,300.81.

BlackRock Stock Down 2.6%

BlackRock stock opened at $1,171.69 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $181.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 4.04 and a quick ratio of 4.04. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $773.74 and a fifty-two week high of $1,219.94. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $1,140.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $1,040.78.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.78 by ($0.23). BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.36% and a net margin of 26.64%.The firm had revenue of $6.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $11.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Rachel Lord sold 18,036 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,125.60, for a total transaction of $20,301,321.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 19,205 shares in the company, valued at $21,617,148. This represents a 48.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,122.81, for a total transaction of $4,978,539.54. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,936,571.86. The trade was a 55.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573 in the last three months. 1.98% of the stock is 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.