BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Sold by Bailard Inc.

Bailard Inc. decreased its holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 26,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 219 shares during the quarter. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $20,968,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $232,000. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in BlackRock by 46.0% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 146 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $119,000 after buying an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Bfsg LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $79,000. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. raised its stake in BlackRock by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 9,527 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,734,000 after buying an additional 505 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kovack Advisors Inc. raised its stake in BlackRock by 12.0% during the fourth quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 569 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $462,000 after buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on BLK shares. TD Cowen cut their price objective on BlackRock from $974.00 to $969.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Citigroup increased their price target on BlackRock from $920.00 to $930.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on BlackRock from $1,025.00 to $1,013.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on BlackRock from $915.00 to $934.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on BlackRock from $912.00 to $937.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $874.07.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 27,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $834.42, for a total transaction of $22,529,340.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,407,041.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 27,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $834.42, for a total transaction of $22,529,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,407,041.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 29,450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $843.25, for a total value 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 $298,272,703.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 81,042 shares of company stock valued at $68,587,117. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BLK stock traded up $0.47 on Monday, reaching $883.31. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 413,845 shares, compared to its average volume of 594,524. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $830.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $806.01. 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 company has a market capitalization of $131.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.32. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $596.18 and a 52 week high of $889.00.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $10.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.96 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $4.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.85 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.53% and a net margin of 32.36%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $9.28 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a dividend of $5.10 per share. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 51.84%.

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.