Benjamin Edwards Inc. Raises Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,454 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,932,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the first quarter worth $27,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Lam Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the first quarter worth $33,000. Fairman Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Chilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the first quarter worth $38,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Stock Up 1.3 %

BlackRock stock opened at $934.61 on Friday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $596.18 and a 1-year high of $942.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.06 and a quick ratio of 5.06. The stock has a market cap of $138.88 billion, a PE ratio of 23.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.30. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $866.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $817.30.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $10.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.96 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $4.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.85 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.44% and a net margin of 32.36%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $9.28 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Shareholders 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 2.18%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 51.84%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 29,450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 353,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $298,272,703.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 29,450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 353,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $298,272,703.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 27,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $834.42, for a total value of $22,529,340.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,407,041.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 93,042 shares of company stock valued at $79,387,117. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on BLK. Barclays raised their price target on BlackRock from $985.00 to $990.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on BlackRock from $1,025.00 to $1,013.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. TD Cowen reduced 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on BlackRock from $912.00 to $937.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on BlackRock from $915.00 to $934.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $902.13.

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.