Slow Capital Inc. Makes New $127,000 Investment in BlackRock $BLK

Slow Capital Inc. bought a new stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 121 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $127,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BLK. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in BlackRock by 73.2% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,313,350 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,243,059,000 after buying an additional 555,098 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,764,072 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,027,419,000 after acquiring an additional 387,466 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 32.8% during 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 acquiring an additional 279,336 shares during the period. Unisphere Establishment lifted its position in BlackRock by 29.2% in the 1st quarter. Unisphere Establishment now owns 839,500 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $794,570,000 after acquiring an additional 189,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in BlackRock by 58.8% in the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 381,447 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $361,032,000 after purchasing an additional 141,258 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $1,179.86 on Tuesday. 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 company has a market cap of $182.70 billion, a PE ratio of 28.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.45. BlackRock has a twelve month low of $773.74 and a twelve month high of $1,184.13. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $1,130.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1,030.30.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.40 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 29.68% and a return on equity of 15.53%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $10.36 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on BLK shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,163.00 to $1,312.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,222.87.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 14,828 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,122.28, for a total transaction of $16,641,167.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 263,751 shares in the company, valued at approximately $296,002,472.28. This represents a 5.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through 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 transaction of $4,978,539.54. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,936,571.86. This represents a 55.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573 in the last quarter. 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.