Quent Capital LLC Raises Position in BlackRock $BLK

Quent Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 3.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 651 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the quarter. Quent Capital LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $683,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 23.1% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,575 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,615,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 1,052 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. RFG Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 1st quarter worth about $1,120,000. Portside Wealth Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 1st quarter worth about $277,000. Finally, Fermata Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 96.3% in the 1st quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 483 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $458,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the topic of several research reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on BlackRock from $1,180.00 to $1,170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Zacks Research lowered BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Friday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $1,280.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,213.67.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director directly owned 3,506 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,936,571.86. This trade represents a 55.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 18,036 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,125.60, for a total value of $20,301,321.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 19,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,617,148. This trade represents a 48.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573 over the last ninety days. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $1,160.75 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $1,129.67 and a 200-day moving average of $1,027.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 4.04 and a quick ratio of 4.04. The company has a market capitalization of $179.74 billion, a PE ratio of 28.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.45. BlackRock has a 1-year low of $773.74 and a 1-year high of $1,183.50.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.41 by $1.64. The company had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.40 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.53% and a net margin of 29.68%.The company’s revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $10.36 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.39%.

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.