US Bancorp DE Sells 3,343 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

US Bancorp DE cut its stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 1.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 212,213 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 3,343 shares during the quarter. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $222,666,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fairway Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 76.5% in the first quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% in the first quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 200.0% in the second quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 27 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Cheviot Value Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the first quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the first quarter valued at $31,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,120.50, for a total transaction of $19,207,611.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 61,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,763,964.50. This trade represents a 21.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 18,036 shares of BlackRock 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 transaction, the director owned 19,205 shares in the company, valued at $21,617,148. This trade represents a 48.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573 in the last ninety days. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $1,163.72 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $773.74 and a 1 year high of $1,184.13. The stock has a market cap of $180.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.45. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $1,132.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1,032.16.

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

BlackRock Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BLK. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Zacks Research lowered BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Argus reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,093.00 to $1,242.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,224.00 to $1,396.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,254.47.

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.