Wealthstream Advisors Inc. Invests $226,000 in BlackRock $BLK

Wealthstream Advisors Inc. bought a new position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 215 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $226,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in BlackRock by 2.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,764,072 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $13,027,419,000 after purchasing an additional 387,466 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in BlackRock by 73.2% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,313,350 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,243,059,000 after purchasing an additional 555,098 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in BlackRock by 10.2% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,206,935 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,142,340,000 after purchasing an additional 111,694 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in BlackRock by 32.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,131,919 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,071,339,000 after purchasing an additional 279,336 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in BlackRock by 13.2% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 932,899 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $882,970,000 after purchasing an additional 108,473 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BLK has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,310.00 to $1,360.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Argus upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,165.00 to $1,330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,300.81.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.8%

BlackRock stock opened at $1,161.63 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,140.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1,042.82. The firm has a market capitalization 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a current ratio of 4.04. BlackRock has a one year low of $773.74 and a one year high of $1,219.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $11.78 by ($0.23). The firm had revenue of $6.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.22 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.36% and a net margin of 26.64%.The firm’s revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $11.46 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the 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 transaction, the director owned 61,369 shares in the company, valued at $68,763,964.50. This represents a 21.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 14,828 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,122.28, for a total transaction of $16,641,167.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 263,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $296,002,472.28. This represents a 5.32% 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 corporate insiders.

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.