MBL Wealth LLC Boosts Holdings in BlackRock $BLK

MBL Wealth LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 565 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. MBL Wealth LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $593,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Garde Capital Inc. grew its holdings in BlackRock by 200.0% in the 2nd quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 27 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the period. Fairway Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 76.5% in the 1st quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% in the 1st quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Cheviot Value Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $1,160.75 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $179.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a current ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $1,129.67 and a 200-day moving average of $1,028.18. BlackRock has a 52 week low of $773.74 and a 52 week high of $1,183.50.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.41 by $1.64. The company had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 period in the prior year, the business posted $10.36 EPS. On average, analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BLK. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,163.00 to $1,312.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Zacks Research lowered BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Argus reissued a “buy” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,213.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the 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 directly owned 3,506 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,936,571.86. This represents a 55.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,120.50, for a total value of $19,207,611.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 61,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,763,964.50. This trade represents a 21.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573. Corporate insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

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.