Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC Purchases 33 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 3.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $905,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Kovack Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 569 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $462,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 460 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $373,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. PGGM Investments boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 95.1% during the 4th quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 1,346 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,093,000 after purchasing an additional 656 shares in the last quarter. Principle Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Principle Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,806 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,713,000 after purchasing an additional 818 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $279,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on BLK shares. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $985.00 price objective on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $912.00 to $937.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Argus upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $880.00 to $910.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $915.00 to $934.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $920.00 to $930.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $881.47.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,670,194.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $875.03, for a total value of $10,500,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,670,194.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 29,450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $843.25, for a total transaction of $24,833,712.50. Following the completion of the transaction, 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. Insiders sold 81,042 shares of company stock valued at $68,587,117 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE:BLK traded up $4.48 on Wednesday, hitting $890.61. The stock had a trading volume of 120,665 shares, compared to its average volume of 589,897. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $596.18 and a 1 year high of $895.44. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $830.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $806.01. The stock has a market cap of $132.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.59, 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 quick ratio of 5.32 and a current ratio of 5.32.

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

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a dividend of $5.10 per share. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.84%.

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.