Interchange Capital Partners LLC Decreases Stake in BlackRock $BLK

Interchange Capital Partners LLC lowered its holdings in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 79.8% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 78 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 308 shares during the period. Interchange Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $82,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 20.1% in the second quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 2,675 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,806,000 after purchasing an additional 448 shares during the last quarter. Curated Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the second quarter worth $214,000. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.2% in the second quarter. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 1,909 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,003,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the period. Aries Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 13.1% in the second quarter. Aries Wealth Management now owns 1,549 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,625,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the period. Finally, Cypress Wealth Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 4.3% in the second quarter. Cypress Wealth Services LLC now owns 977 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,025,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $1,320.00 price objective on BlackRock in a report on Wednesday. Argus reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Zacks Research lowered BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,163.00 to $1,312.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,264.56.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $1,193.23 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.04, a current ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,137.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1,038.10. The stock has a market cap of $184.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.85, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.45. BlackRock has a 52 week low of $773.74 and a 52 week high of $1,209.82.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.78 by ($0.23). The company had revenue of $6.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.22 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.53% and a net margin of 29.68%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $11.46 EPS. On average, analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 50.39%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the director owned 61,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,763,964.50. This represents a 21.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,122.81, for a total value of $4,978,539.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,936,571.86. This trade represents a 55.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.