Cooper Financial Group Buys 529 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Cooper Financial Group raised its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 143.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 898 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 529 shares during the quarter. Cooper Financial Group’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $943,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. McLean Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 3.9% during the second quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 266 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $285,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Oklahoma boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. TOWER TRUST & INVESTMENT Co boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Detalus Advisors LLC boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,120.50, for a total transaction of $19,207,611.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 61,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,763,964.50. This represents a 21.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $20,301,321.60. Following the sale, the director directly owned 19,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,617,148. The trade was a 48.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE:BLK opened at $1,142.33 on Thursday. 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 $176.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.62, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.45. The company’s 50-day moving average is $1,128.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1,024.88. 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 Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the subject of several research reports. Argus reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $1,115.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued 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. Finally, 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. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,171.93.

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.