BlackRock $BLK Shares Acquired by Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund grew its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 19.8% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 34,461 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,700 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $36,158,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Rossby Financial LCC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 42.3% in the second quarter. Rossby Financial LCC now owns 37 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares during the period. SYM FINANCIAL Corp grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 3.5% in the second quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 412 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $432,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Guinness Asset Management LTD boosted its position in BlackRock by 1.5% during the second quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 260,729 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $273,576,000 after acquiring an additional 3,807 shares during the last quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. boosted its position in BlackRock by 300.0% during the second quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 36 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in BlackRock by 1.9% during the second quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 8,804 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $9,238,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,165.04, for a total value of $13,980,480.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,394,113.20. The trade was a 62.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,120.50, for a total transaction of $19,207,611.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BLK. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,310.00 to $1,360.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted 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. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,394.00 to $1,456.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,180.00 to $1,170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,299.29.

BlackRock Price Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $1,130.06 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $1,139.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1,056.13. The company has a market capitalization of $174.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.45. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $773.74 and a 1 year high of $1,219.94. 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 (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.78 by ($0.23). The company had revenue of $6.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.22 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 26.64% and a return on equity of 15.36%. BlackRock’s revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $11.46 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

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.