D.B. Root & Company LLC Grows Holdings in BlackRock $BLK

D.B. Root & Company LLC grew its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 22.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 399 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 72 shares during the period. D.B. Root & Company LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $419,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in BlackRock by 73.2% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,313,350 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,243,059,000 after buying an additional 555,098 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 387,466 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 32.8% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,131,919 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,071,339,000 after acquiring an additional 279,336 shares during the period. Unisphere Establishment boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 29.2% in the first quarter. Unisphere Establishment now owns 839,500 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $794,570,000 after buying an additional 189,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 58.8% in the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 381,447 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $361,032,000 after buying an additional 141,258 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on BLK. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,224.00 to $1,396.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,093.00 to $1,242.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $980.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,213.67.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, Director Rachel Lord sold 18,036 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the director owned 19,205 shares in the company, valued at $21,617,148. The trade was a 48.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 61,369 shares in the company, valued at $68,763,964.50. The trade was a 21.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $1,160.75 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $1,129.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $1,028.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a current ratio of 4.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $179.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.45. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $773.74 and a 1 year high of $1,183.50.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 15.53% and a net margin of 29.68%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $10.36 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

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

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.