Ellis Investment Partners LLC Acquires 17 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Ellis Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 475 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the quarter. Ellis Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $498,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,764,072 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,027,419,000 after purchasing an additional 387,466 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 73.2% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,313,350 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,243,059,000 after purchasing an additional 555,098 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 10.2% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,206,935 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,142,340,000 after purchasing an additional 111,694 shares during 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 purchasing an additional 279,336 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in BlackRock by 13.2% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 932,899 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $882,970,000 after acquiring an additional 108,473 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

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 shares were sold at an average price of $1,125.60, for a total value of $20,301,321.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 19,205 shares in the company, valued at $21,617,148. The trade was a 48.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $4,978,539.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,936,571.86. The trade was a 55.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,221.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,093.00 to $1,242.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,252.00 to $1,301.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,160.00 to $1,265.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,258.56.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK stock opened at $1,132.12 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $1,134.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $1,035.56. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $773.74 and a 52-week high of $1,184.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $175.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.37, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a current ratio of 4.04.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.41 by $1.64. BlackRock had a net margin of 29.68% and a return on equity of 15.53%. The firm had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.40 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $10.36 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 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.