Private Trust Co. NA Purchases 125 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Private Trust Co. NA lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 8.0% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,679 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,762,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,764,072 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $13,027,419,000 after acquiring an additional 387,466 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 73.2% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,206,935 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,142,340,000 after purchasing an additional 111,694 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 32.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,131,919 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,071,339,000 after purchasing an additional 279,336 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 13.2% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 932,899 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $882,970,000 after acquiring an additional 108,473 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 14,828 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,122.28, for a total transaction of $16,641,167.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 263,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $296,002,472.28. This represents a 5.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,122.81, for a total value of $4,978,539.54. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,506 shares in the company, valued at $3,936,571.86. The trade was a 55.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573. Insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $1,161.63 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $1,140.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1,042.27. The company has a market capitalization of $179.88 billion, a PE ratio of 29.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 4.04, a current ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. BlackRock has a 52 week low of $773.74 and a 52 week high of $1,219.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced 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). The business had revenue of $6.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.22 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 26.64% and a return on equity of 15.36%. The business’s revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $11.46 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were given a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 53.59%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $980.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Barclays upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,310.00 to $1,360.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Argus boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,165.00 to $1,330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,300.81.

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.