Means Investment CO. Inc. Sells 128 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Means Investment CO. Inc. cut its stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 10.2% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,129 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 128 shares during the quarter. Means Investment CO. Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,184,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in 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 acquiring an additional 555,098 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,764,072 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $13,027,419,000 after purchasing an additional 387,466 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 32.8% in the 1st 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 during the period. McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the second quarter worth approximately $231,000. Finally, Unisphere Establishment grew its position in BlackRock by 29.2% during the first quarter. Unisphere Establishment now owns 839,500 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $794,570,000 after buying an additional 189,500 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,093.00 to $1,242.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on BlackRock in a report on Friday, October 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $1,280.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price 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. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,160.00 to $1,265.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,258.56.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,125.43, for a total value of $13,565,933.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 251,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $283,267,354.71. The trade was a 4.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director directly owned 3,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,936,571.86. The trade was a 55.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE:BLK opened at $1,132.12 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $1,134.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $1,035.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $175.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.45. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $773.74 and a 12-month high of $1,184.13. 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 (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly 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. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.53% and a net margin of 29.68%.The company had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $10.36 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast 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. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.