Auto Owners Insurance Co Sells 8,200 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Auto Owners Insurance Co trimmed its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 87.2% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,200 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 8,200 shares during the quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,259,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Welch Group LLC raised its stake in BlackRock by 1.2% in the second quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 760 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $797,000 after buying an additional 9 shares during the last quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. grew its holdings in BlackRock by 2.7% during the second quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 340 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $357,000 after acquiring an additional 9 shares during the period. CNB Bank grew its holdings in BlackRock by 9.6% during the second quarter. CNB Bank now owns 103 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $108,000 after acquiring an additional 9 shares during the period. McLean Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in BlackRock by 3.9% during the second quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 266 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $285,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares during the period. Finally, Trust Co. of Oklahoma grew its holdings in BlackRock by 0.5% in the second quarter. Trust Co. of Oklahoma now owns 2,023 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,123,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.5%

BlackRock stock opened at $1,125.20 on Wednesday. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $773.74 and a fifty-two week 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. The company has a market capitalization of $174.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.93, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.45. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,139.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1,058.01.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,165.04, for a total transaction of $13,980,480.00. Following the sale, the director owned 7,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,394,113.20. This represents a 62.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on BLK shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,093.00 to $1,242.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. UBS Group reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $1,320.00 target price on BlackRock and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,299.29.

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.