BlackRock $BLK Stake Increased by Alley Investment Management Company LLC

Alley Investment Management Company LLC raised its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 0.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 21,884 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the quarter. BlackRock accounts for approximately 2.8% of Alley Investment Management Company LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Alley Investment Management Company LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $22,962,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. McLean Asset Management Corp increased its holdings in BlackRock by 3.9% in the second quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 266 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $285,000 after buying an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Oklahoma grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 0.5% in the second quarter. Trust Co. of Oklahoma now owns 2,023 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,123,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the period. TOWER TRUST & INVESTMENT Co grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.3% in the second quarter. TOWER TRUST & INVESTMENT Co now owns 799 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $838,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the period. Detalus Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.8% in the first quarter. Detalus Advisors LLC now owns 409 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $387,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 20.4% in the first quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 65 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director owned 3,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,936,571.86. The trade was a 55.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,125.43, for a total value of $13,565,933.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 251,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $283,267,354.71. The trade was a 4.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573 in the last ninety days. 1.98% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $980.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,018.00 to $1,093.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,214.00 to $1,224.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Zacks Research lowered shares of BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,171.93.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE:BLK opened at $1,166.35 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 4.04 and a quick ratio of 4.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $180.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.20, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.45. The company’s 50-day moving average is $1,127.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1,024.07. BlackRock has a 1-year low of $773.74 and a 1-year high of $1,183.50.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.41 by $1.64. The company had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $10.36 EPS. Analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

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