Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC Trims Stock Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 4.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,124 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 53 shares during the quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $777,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,335,602 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,363,708,000 after purchasing an additional 430,524 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,174,621 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,249,634,000 after acquiring an additional 129,335 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 1.6% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,664,331 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,778,039,000 after acquiring an additional 41,280 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in BlackRock by 0.8% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,915,197 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,463,536,000 after acquiring an additional 15,290 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,842,425 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,232,804,000 after purchasing an additional 57,862 shares during the period. 77.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $694.89 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $103.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.29, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 4.21, a current ratio of 4.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The business’s 50 day moving average is $706.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $681.26. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $503.12 and a 52-week high of $785.65.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 14th. The asset manager reported $9.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.52 by $0.76. The firm had revenue of $4.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.47 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 29.90% and a return on equity of 14.29%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $7.36 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 35.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 8th will be paid a dividend of $5.00 per share. This represents a $20.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 7th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 58.41%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLK has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on BlackRock from $780.00 to $770.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 3rd. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $750.00 to $815.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $881.00 to $888.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 18th. Bank of America cut their price objective on BlackRock from $928.00 to $921.00 in a research report on Sunday, July 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on BlackRock from $780.00 to $785.00 in a research report on Monday, July 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $767.69.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 20,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $742.04, for a total value of $14,989,208.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 464,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $344,399,315. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 20,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $742.04, for a total transaction of $14,989,208.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 464,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $344,399,315. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 2,079 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $733.82, for a total value of $1,525,611.78. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,160 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,520,331.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.