BlackRock $BLK Shares Purchased by Marino Stram & Associates LLC

Marino Stram & Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,571 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the period. BlackRock makes up about 0.8% of Marino Stram & Associates LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Marino Stram & Associates LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $3,747,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas raised its position in BlackRock by 1.3% in the second quarter. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas now owns 2,222 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,331,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 30.9% during the 2nd quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC now owns 335 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $352,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. PFG Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 12.9% in the 2nd quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 770 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $808,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Liberty Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 14.8% in the second quarter. Liberty Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,722 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,856,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the period. Finally, Cooper Financial Group boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 143.4% during the second quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 898 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $943,000 after buying an additional 529 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $1,115.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Argus reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,018.00 to $1,093.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,171.93.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of BLK stock opened at $1,166.35 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $180.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.20, a PEG ratio of 2.25 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. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $1,127.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $1,024.07. BlackRock has a twelve month low of $773.74 and a twelve month high of $1,183.50.

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

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

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

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.