Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC Reduces Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC decreased its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 6.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 356 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 25 shares during the period. Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $280,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. XML Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.6% during the second 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 period. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 226 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $177,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares during the period. Forza Wealth Management LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $822,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 4.4% during the second quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 311 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $243,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tortoise Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 17.1% in the second quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 89 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 29,450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were 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 owns 353,718 shares in the company, valued at approximately $298,272,703.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Pamela Daley sold 1,531 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $842.08, for a total value of $1,289,224.48. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,732 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,826,802.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 93,042 shares of company stock valued at $79,387,117. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $928.79 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $868.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $817.96. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $596.18 and a 12-month high of $942.73. The company has a current ratio of 5.06, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market cap of $138.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.60, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.30.

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. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.44% and a net margin of 32.36%. The company had revenue of $4.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $9.28 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast 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 paid a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of BlackRock from $842.00 to $837.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Barclays lifted their target price on BlackRock from $985.00 to $990.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on BlackRock from $920.00 to $945.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $1,000.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,025.00 to $1,013.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.