Parallel Advisors LLC Sells 351 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Parallel Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 11,090 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 351 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $11,636,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 104,598.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,500,083 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,312,759,000 after purchasing an additional 3,496,740 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 401.5% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,095,241 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,122,743,000 after purchasing an additional 876,836 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 73.2% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,313,350 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,243,059,000 after purchasing an additional 555,098 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,764,072 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,027,419,000 after acquiring an additional 387,466 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in BlackRock by 32.8% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,131,919 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,071,339,000 after purchasing an additional 279,336 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on BLK shares. Bank of America upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,214.00 to $1,224.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Barclays upped their price target on BlackRock from $990.00 to $1,220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on BlackRock from $1,180.00 to $1,170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,154.07.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.9%

NYSE BLK opened at $1,124.34 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $174.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a current ratio of 4.04. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,115.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1,007.82. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $773.74 and a fifty-two week high of $1,171.89.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.41 by $1.64. The business had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.40 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.53% and a net margin of 29.68%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $10.36 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 50.39%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,122.81, for a total value of $4,978,539.54. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,936,571.86. The trade was a 55.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 18,036 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,125.60, for a total value of $20,301,321.60. Following the sale, the director directly owned 19,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,617,148. This represents a 48.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock 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.