Y.D. More Investments Ltd Purchases 17 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Y.D. More Investments Ltd grew its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 25.0% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 85 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 17 shares during the quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $59,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth $1,037,009,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 104,159.9% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 697,499 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $494,269,000 after acquiring an additional 696,830 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in BlackRock by 14.8% during the fourth 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 period. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $187,527,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 277.9% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 317,614 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $242,711,000 after purchasing an additional 233,568 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on BLK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $780.00 to $770.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 3rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $881.00 to $888.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 18th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on BlackRock from $741.00 to $781.00 in a research report on Monday, July 10th. Citigroup raised their price target on BlackRock from $750.00 to $815.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 14th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $767.69.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 2,079 shares of BlackRock 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 owns 6,160 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,520,331.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 20,200 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 464,125 shares in the company, valued at $344,399,315. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 2,079 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $733.82, for a total transaction of $1,525,611.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,160 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,520,331.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE:BLK opened at $694.89 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 4.21 and a quick ratio of 4.21. The firm has a market cap of $103.75 billion, a PE ratio of 20.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50-day moving average of $706.56 and a 200 day moving average of $681.26. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $503.12 and a 1-year high of $785.65.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $4.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.47 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 29.90% and a return on equity of 14.29%. BlackRock’s revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $7.36 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 35.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

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

BlackRock Company 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.