Arizona State Retirement System Increases Stock Position in BlackRock $BLK

Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 1.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 40,956 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 573 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $39,382,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. West Family Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the second quarter valued at about $796,000. Waverly Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.0% in the second quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 21,835 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $20,995,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 3.5% in the second quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 5,024 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,831,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares during the last quarter. Nykredit A S acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $46,737,000. Finally, Range Advisory LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 9.1% during the 2nd quarter. Range Advisory LLC now owns 264 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $253,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE:BLK traded down $26.89 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $1,095.40. 575,841 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 768,611. The stock has a market capitalization of $169.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.41. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,096.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1,049.57. The company has a quick ratio of 3.59, a current ratio of 3.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. BlackRock has a 52 week low of $917.39 and a 52 week high of $1,219.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $13.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $12.69 by $1.22. The business had revenue of $7.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.73 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.90% and a net margin of 24.09%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 30.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $12.05 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 55.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be paid a dividend of $5.73 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 54.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BLK. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,260.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Monday, August 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of BlackRock from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $1,165.00 to $1,364.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $1,258.00 price target on shares of BlackRock in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,383.00 to $1,488.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $1,389.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a report on Thursday, July 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,311.06.

About BlackRock

BlackRock, Inc is a global investment management firm that provides a broad range of products and services to institutional, intermediary and individual investors. Its core activities include portfolio management across active and index strategies, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) under the iShares brand, fixed income, equity and multi-asset solutions, as well as alternatives such as private equity, real estate and infrastructure. The firm also offers cash management and liquidity solutions and retirement-focused products designed for defined contribution and defined benefit investors.

In addition to traditional investment management, BlackRock is known for its technology and risk management capabilities, most prominently its Aladdin platform, which combines portfolio management, trading and risk analytics and is used both internally and licensed to external clients.