IFP Advisors Inc Increases Stock Holdings in BlackRock $BLK

IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 9.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,318 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 194 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $2,480,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Callan Family Office LLC lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 78.7% during the 2nd quarter. Callan Family Office LLC now owns 7,744 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $8,125,000 after buying an additional 3,410 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 69,482 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $72,904,000 after purchasing an additional 3,674 shares in the last quarter. TFR Capital LLC. purchased a new position in BlackRock in the 2nd quarter valued at $228,000. McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock in the 2nd quarter valued at $231,000. Finally, MSH Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. MSH Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,090 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,291,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLK has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $980.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,221.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,210.00 to $1,310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective 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, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,258.56.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,120.50, for a total transaction of $19,207,611.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 61,369 shares in the company, valued at $68,763,964.50. This trade represents a 21.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 owned 263,751 shares in the company, valued at $296,002,472.28. This represents a 5.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573 over the last three months. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Stock Down 3.0%

NYSE BLK opened at $1,132.12 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $1,134.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1,034.64. The company has a quick ratio of 4.04, a current ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market cap of $175.31 billion, a PE ratio of 27.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.45. BlackRock has a 52 week low of $773.74 and a 52 week high of $1,184.13.

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

BlackRock Announces Dividend

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

About BlackRock

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.