Principal Securities Inc. Has $5.02 Million Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Principal Securities Inc. raised its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 7.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 5,292 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $5,024,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Marino Stram & Associates LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 0.3% in the third quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 3,399 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,227,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 328 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $312,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 3,424 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,251,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. XML Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 473 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $372,000 after buying an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 937 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $890,000 after buying an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLK has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,010.00 to $1,120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $995.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Argus lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $880.00 to $910.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $995.31.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK stock opened at $985.71 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 5.06, a current ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $623.77 and a 12 month high of $1,032.00. The firm has a market cap of $146.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $940.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $850.84.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.42 by $1.04. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.37% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.03 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $10.91 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 42.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 29,450 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $843.25, for a total transaction of $24,833,712.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $298,272,703.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 29,450 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $843.25, for a total transaction of $24,833,712.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $298,272,703.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $875.03, for a total transaction of $10,500,360.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,670,194.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 64,511 shares of company stock valued at $55,568,552. 0.90% of the stock is owned by 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.