BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Acquired by Welch Group LLC

Welch Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 6.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 652 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Welch Group LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $513,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Knuff & Co LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 48.1% in the 4th quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares during the period. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 6.1% during the second quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 226 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $177,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 1.3% during the second quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $822,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd lifted its stake in BlackRock by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 404 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $328,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Accurate Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 1.4% during the first quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,007 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $840,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $807.29, for a total value of $25,008,229.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 383,168 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $309,327,694.72. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 27,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $834.42, for a total value of $22,529,340.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,407,041.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $807.29, for a total transaction of $25,008,229.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 383,168 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $309,327,694.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 100,020 shares of company stock valued at $83,094,987. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BLK has been the subject of several recent research reports. Argus increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $880.00 to $910.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of BlackRock from $842.00 to $837.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,025.00 to $1,013.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $910.00 to $920.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $912.00 to $937.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $874.07.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.2 %

BlackRock stock traded down $1.61 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $870.45. The company had a trading volume of 128,472 shares, compared to its average volume of 600,122. The firm has a market capitalization of $129.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 5.32 and a quick ratio of 5.32. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $816.23 and its 200-day moving average is $801.61. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $596.18 and a fifty-two week high of $885.10.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $10.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.96 by $0.40. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.36% and a return on equity of 15.53%. The company had revenue of $4.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $9.28 EPS. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.23 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a dividend of $5.10 per share. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.84%.

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.