Iowa State Bank Cuts Position in BlackRock $BLK

Iowa State Bank lowered its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 1.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,700 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 43 shares during the quarter. Iowa State Bank’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $3,882,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of BLK. Fairway Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 76.5% during the first quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 100.0% during the 1st quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 200.0% during the 2nd quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 27 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Cheviot Value Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on BLK shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $990.00 to $1,220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,093.00 to $1,242.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $980.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,180.00 to $1,170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,213.67.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 24th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,936,571.86. This represents a 55.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,120.50, for a total transaction of $19,207,611.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 61,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,763,964.50. This trade represents a 21.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573. 1.98% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.0%

NYSE BLK opened at $1,160.75 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $1,129.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1,028.70. BlackRock has a one year low of $773.74 and a one year high of $1,183.50. 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 firm has a market cap of $179.75 billion, a PE ratio of 28.06, 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.41 by $1.64. The firm 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 business’s revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $10.36 earnings per share. Analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were given 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.39%.

BlackRock 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.