Sienna Gestion Makes New Investment in BlackRock $BLK

Sienna Gestion purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 15,086 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $14,452,000. BlackRock makes up 1.0% of Sienna Gestion’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Welch Group LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 760 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $797,000 after acquiring an additional 9 shares during the period. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. grew its holdings in BlackRock by 2.7% during the 2nd 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 stake 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 purchasing an additional 9 shares during the period. McLean Asset Management Corp grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 266 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $285,000 after buying 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 worth $2,123,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on BLK. Zacks Research cut shares of BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. TD Cowen raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,301.00 to $1,407.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Loop Capital set a $1,255.00 price objective on BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,163.00 to $1,312.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,093.00 to $1,242.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,299.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director owned 7,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,394,113.20. This represents a 62.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 1.3%

BLK stock opened at $1,073.29 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $166.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.48. 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 has a 1-year low of $773.74 and a 1-year high of $1,219.94. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $1,132.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $1,066.42.

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

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.