Studio Investment Management LLC Reduces Stake in BlackRock $BLK

Studio Investment Management LLC reduced its holdings in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 1.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,032 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 33 shares during the quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $3,181,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Securian Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 1st quarter valued at about $7,331,000. Prudent Man Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 1st quarter valued at about $2,018,000. Allianz SE increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Allianz SE now owns 11,025 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,435,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 1st quarter valued at about $40,868,000. Finally, Community Financial Services Group LLC increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 17.2% during the 1st quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 5,702 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,397,000 after purchasing an additional 836 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. UBS Group restated a “hold” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,163.00 to $1,312.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,280.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,310.00 to $1,360.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,299.29.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 14,828 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,122.28, for a total transaction of $16,641,167.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 263,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $296,002,472.28. This trade represents a 5.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,120.50, for a total value of $19,207,611.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 61,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,763,964.50. This trade represents a 21.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573. 1.98% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Trading Down 2.5%

NYSE BLK opened at $1,130.70 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $175.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 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 $1,140.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1,046.85. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $773.74 and a fifty-two week high of $1,219.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.78 by ($0.23). The firm had revenue of $6.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.22 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 26.64% and a return on equity of 15.36%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $11.46 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

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.