Aspiriant LLC Sells 24 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Aspiriant LLC reduced its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 5.9% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 380 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 24 shares during the period. Aspiriant LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $399,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fairway Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 76.5% in the first 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 grew its stake in BlackRock by 100.0% during the first quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. increased its holdings in BlackRock by 200.0% during the 2nd quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 27 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the period. Cheviot Value Management LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $1,161.63 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $179.88 billion, a PE ratio of 29.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.45. 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 $1,219.94. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $1,140.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $1,042.82.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $11.46 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 currently 53.59%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BLK. BNP Paribas Exane upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,160.00 to $1,265.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Zacks Research cut BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Barclays boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,310.00 to $1,360.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Argus raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,165.00 to $1,330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,300.81.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 14,828 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,122.28, for a total value of $16,641,167.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 263,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $296,002,472.28. The trade was a 5.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 18,036 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director owned 19,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,617,148. The trade was a 48.43% 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 worth $74,694,573 in the last 90 days. 1.98% of the stock is owned by company 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.