Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Increases Stock Position in BlackRock $BLK

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 4.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 49,762 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 2,133 shares during the period. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $52,201,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock during the second quarter valued at $231,000. Finally, Unisphere Establishment lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 29.2% during the first quarter. Unisphere Establishment now owns 839,500 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $794,570,000 after purchasing an additional 189,500 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,165.04, for a total transaction of $13,980,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,394,113.20. This trade represents a 62.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on BLK. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,362.00 to $1,486.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target 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. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,301.00 to $1,407.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,299.29.

BlackRock Price Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $1,073.29 on Thursday. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $773.74 and a 12-month high of $1,219.94. The stock has a market cap of $166.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.60, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $1,132.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $1,066.42. The company has a current ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $11.78 by ($0.23). BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.36% and a net margin of 26.64%.The firm had revenue of $6.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $11.46 earnings per share. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate 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.