Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Has $6.74 Million Stock Holdings in BlackRock $BLK

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management cut its holdings in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 19.8% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,421 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,590 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $6,737,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Quattro Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 121.8% in the second quarter. Quattro Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,231 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,292,000 after buying an additional 676 shares in the last quarter. Mattern Capital Management LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 0.6% in the second quarter. Mattern Capital Management LLC now owns 10,080 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,576,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 4.7% in the second quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 223 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $234,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the period. River Street Advisors LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 4.8% in the second quarter. River Street Advisors LLC now owns 2,556 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,681,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the period. Finally, Hilltop National Bank acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the second quarter worth about $1,325,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, 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 completion of the transaction, the director owned 19,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,617,148. This represents a 48.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,120.50, for a total value of $19,207,611.00. Following the sale, the director 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573. Insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on BLK shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $1,115.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $980.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $959.00 to $1,210.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,194.86.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $1,160.23 on Friday. 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 50 day simple moving average of $1,128.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1,026.28. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $773.74 and a 52-week high of $1,183.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $179.66 billion, a PE ratio of 28.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.45.

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

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were given a dividend of $5.21 per share. 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 dividend 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.