Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. Has $3.57 Million Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 0.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,535 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 13 shares during the quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $3,571,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in BlackRock by 2.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,182,262 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,990,052,000 after buying an additional 292,017 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in BlackRock by 11.1% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,354,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,630,127,000 after buying an additional 435,358 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in BlackRock by 57.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,514,999 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,853,517,000 after buying an additional 1,279,952 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in BlackRock by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 2,471,621 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,006,490,000 after buying an additional 58,681 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,015,337 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,636,052,000 after acquiring an additional 47,128 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group reduced their price objective on BlackRock from $842.00 to $837.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $912.00 to $937.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on BlackRock in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $1,000.00 price objective for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $915.00 to $934.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Argus boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $880.00 to $910.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $902.13.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 27,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $5,407,041.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 29,450 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,718 shares in the company, valued at $298,272,703.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,407,041.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 93,042 shares of company stock worth $79,387,117. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE BLK opened at $928.79 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $868.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $817.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.06 and a quick ratio of 5.06. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $596.18 and a fifty-two week high of $942.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $138.02 billion, a PE ratio of 23.60, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.30.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $10.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.96 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $4.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.85 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.44% and a net margin of 32.36%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $9.28 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a dividend of $5.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.20%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.