Equitable Trust Co. Cuts Stock Position in BlackRock $BLK

Equitable Trust Co. trimmed its position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 0.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,896 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 14 shares during the period. Equitable Trust Co.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $3,039,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Welch Group LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 760 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $797,000 after buying an additional 9 shares in the last quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp grew its position in BlackRock by 3.9% in 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 in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Oklahoma grew its stake in BlackRock by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Trust Co. of Oklahoma now owns 2,023 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,123,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. TOWER TRUST & INVESTMENT Co grew its stake in BlackRock by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. TOWER TRUST & INVESTMENT Co now owns 799 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $838,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 223 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $234,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Rachel Lord sold 18,036 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,125.60, for a total value of $20,301,321.60. Following the sale, the director directly owned 19,205 shares in the company, valued at $21,617,148. This represents a 48.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,120.50, for a total value of $19,207,611.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 61,369 shares in the company, valued at $68,763,964.50. The trade was a 21.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573. Insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on BLK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,093.00 to $1,242.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,163.00 to $1,312.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,224.00 to $1,362.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,252.00 to $1,301.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,263.31.

BlackRock Trading Up 2.1%

BLK stock opened at $1,156.20 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $1,135.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $1,037.02. The stock has a market cap of $179.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.45. BlackRock has a one year low of $773.74 and a one year high of $1,184.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 4.04 and a quick ratio of 4.04.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.41 by $1.64. The business had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.40 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 29.68% and a return on equity of 15.53%. BlackRock’s revenue was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $10.36 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.39%.

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.