Aspiriant LLC Has $399,000 Stake in BlackRock $BLK

Aspiriant LLC reduced its holdings in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 5.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm 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 SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fairway Wealth LLC increased 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 purchasing an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% during the 1st quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Garde Capital Inc. increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 200.0% in the 2nd quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 27 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Cheviot Value Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in BlackRock during the first quarter worth $31,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BLK has been the topic of several research reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Argus upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,165.00 to $1,330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $980.00 price target on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Zacks Research downgraded BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,362.00 to $1,486.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,300.81.

BlackRock Price Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $1,161.63 on Friday. BlackRock has a 52 week low of $773.74 and a 52 week high of $1,219.94. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $1,140.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1,042.82. The stock has a market cap of $179.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 4.04, a current ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.78 by ($0.23). BlackRock had a net margin of 26.64% and a return on equity of 15.36%. The business had revenue of $6.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $11.46 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were given a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.59%.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Rachel Lord sold 18,036 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 19,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,617,148. This trade represents a 48.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,120.50, for a total value of $19,207,611.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 61,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,763,964.50. The trade was a 21.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.