Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC Trims Position in BlackRock $BLK

Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 86.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 453 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,899 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $475,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fairway Wealth LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 76.5% in the first quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the period. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 100.0% in the first quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Garde Capital Inc. grew its stake in BlackRock by 200.0% in the second quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 27 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Cheviot Value Management LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the first quarter worth $30,000. Finally, MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the first quarter worth $31,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of the 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 owned 7,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,394,113.20. This represents a 62.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,120.50, for a total value of $19,207,611.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 61,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,763,964.50. This represents a 21.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $1,138.60 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $176.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.28, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.45. 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 has a 1 year low of $773.74 and a 1 year high of $1,219.94. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $1,139.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $1,051.77.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.78 by ($0.23). The business had revenue of $6.51 billion for 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $11.46 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on BLK shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,362.00 to $1,486.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Citigroup increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,180.00 to $1,170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,310.00 to $1,360.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,299.29.

BlackRock Company 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.