273 Shares in BlackRock $BLK Acquired by Lewis Asset Management LLC

Lewis Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 273 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $286,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Garde Capital Inc. boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 200.0% in 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. Fairway Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% in the first quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Cheviot Value Management LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

NYSE:BLK opened at $1,135.87 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $175.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.45. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $773.74 and a 52-week high of $1,171.89. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $1,120.31 and a 200 day moving average of $1,014.87. 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 (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.41 by $1.64. The company had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.40 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.53% and a net margin of 29.68%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $10.36 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.39%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,122.81, for a total transaction of $4,978,539.54. Following the completion of the sale, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of BlackRock 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 sale, the director directly owned 61,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,763,964.50. This represents a 21.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on BlackRock from $1,180.00 to $1,170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on BlackRock from $959.00 to $1,210.00 in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Argus restated a “buy” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $980.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,154.07.

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.