Values Added Financial LLC Has $400,000 Position in BlackRock $BLK

Values Added Financial LLC raised its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 381 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. Values Added Financial LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $400,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BLK. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 73.2% in 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 during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position 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 valued at $13,027,419,000 after acquiring an additional 387,466 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 32.8% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,131,919 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,071,339,000 after acquiring an additional 279,336 shares during the period. Unisphere Establishment boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 29.2% in the first quarter. Unisphere Establishment now owns 839,500 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $794,570,000 after acquiring an additional 189,500 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 58.8% in the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 381,447 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $361,032,000 after acquiring an additional 141,258 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,252.00 to $1,301.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,224.00 to $1,362.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Zacks Research cut shares of BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,254.47.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other news, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The shares were 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 owned 3,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,936,571.86. This represents a 55.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 61,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,763,964.50. This trade represents a 21.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573 over the last three months. 1.98% of the stock is owned by insiders.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.2%

BLK stock opened at $1,163.72 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization 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 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 12 month low of $773.74 and a 12 month high of $1,184.13. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $1,132.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $1,032.16.

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

BlackRock Announces Dividend

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