River Street Advisors LLC Purchases 118 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

River Street Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,556 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the quarter. BlackRock comprises about 1.2% of River Street Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. River Street Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $2,681,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BLK. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 73.2% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,313,350 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,243,059,000 after buying an additional 555,098 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,764,072 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,027,419,000 after buying an additional 387,466 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 32.8% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,131,919 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,071,339,000 after buying an additional 279,336 shares during the period. Unisphere Establishment grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 29.2% during the 1st quarter. Unisphere Establishment now owns 839,500 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $794,570,000 after buying an additional 189,500 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 58.8% during the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 381,447 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $361,032,000 after buying an additional 141,258 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director owned 3,506 shares in the company, valued at $3,936,571.86. This represents a 55.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 18,036 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,125.60, for a total value of $20,301,321.60. Following the sale, the director owned 19,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,617,148. This represents a 48.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BLK. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on 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. Argus reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,093.00 to $1,242.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $959.00 to $1,210.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,194.86.

BlackRock Trading Up 1.7%

NYSE BLK opened at $1,160.23 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $179.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.05, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.45. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $1,128.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1,026.28. 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 has a 52 week low of $773.74 and a 52 week high of $1,183.50.

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

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 50.39%.

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.