BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Stake Increased by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 4.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 64,506 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 2,645 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $44,534,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mendel Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Mendel Capital Management LLC now owns 1,013 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $700,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Key Financial Inc lifted its stake in BlackRock by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 540 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $373,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Keystone Financial Planning Inc. lifted its stake in BlackRock by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Keystone Financial Planning Inc. now owns 369 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $255,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Field & Main Bank lifted its stake in BlackRock by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Field & Main Bank now owns 842 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $582,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rock Creek Group LP lifted its stake in BlackRock by 12.8% in the 2nd quarter. Rock Creek Group LP now owns 132 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $91,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on BLK shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on BlackRock from $736.00 to $708.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 16th. Bank of America cut their target price on BlackRock from $921.00 to $868.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 4th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on BlackRock from $836.00 to $897.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on BlackRock from $814.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on BlackRock from $820.00 to $720.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $764.75.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.3 %

BLK stock opened at $716.86 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.72, a quick ratio of 3.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $106.64 billion, a PE ratio of 20.11, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $596.18 and a 1-year high of $781.77. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $651.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $676.09.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 13th. The asset manager reported $10.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.34 by $2.57. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.65% and a net margin of 30.66%. The business had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $9.55 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 36.44 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 7th will be issued a $5.00 dividend. This represents a $20.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 6th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 56.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 15,385 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $652.03, for a total value of $10,031,481.55. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 435,260 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $283,802,577.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

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.