BlackRock $BLK Shares Sold by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lessened its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 13.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 72,584 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 11,565 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $76,140,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BLK. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 105,267.4% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,705,899 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,789,915,000 after acquiring an additional 1,704,280 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 72.5% during the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,005,358 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,104,122,000 after purchasing an additional 842,901 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 73.2% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,313,350 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,243,059,000 after purchasing an additional 555,098 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in BlackRock by 2.9% in 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. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in BlackRock by 32.8% in 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Up 1.1%

NYSE BLK opened at $1,041.18 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $161.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.77, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.48. 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. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $1,111.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $1,080.58.

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 business had revenue of $6.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $11.46 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,165.04, for a total value of $13,980,480.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 7,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.98% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BLK. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on BlackRock from $1,312.00 to $1,305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 14th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,301.00 to $1,407.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Argus boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,165.00 to $1,330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,372.00 to $1,313.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,394.00 to $1,456.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,302.59.

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.