waypoint wealth counsel Invests $216,000 in BlackRock $BLK

waypoint wealth counsel acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 206 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $216,000.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Garde Capital Inc. boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 200.0% in the second 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 boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 76.5% in the first quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 13 shares during the period. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% in the first quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Cheviot Value Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on BLK shares. Citigroup boosted their price target 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. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on BlackRock in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $1,280.00 price target for the company. Zacks Research cut BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,252.00 to $1,301.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,258.56.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other 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 directly owned 3,506 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,936,571.86. This represents a 55.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 263,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $296,002,472.28. This trade represents a 5.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573 over the last three months. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Stock Down 3.0%

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $1,132.12 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $1,134.85 and a 200-day moving average of $1,035.56. The company has a market capitalization of $175.31 billion, a PE ratio of 27.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a current ratio of 4.04. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $773.74 and a 52-week high of $1,184.13.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.41 by $1.64. The company had revenue of $5.42 billion during 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 revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $10.36 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

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

About BlackRock

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.