Legacy Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)

Legacy Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 5.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 684 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $647,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 2.5% during the first quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 4,789 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,532,000 after buying an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in BlackRock by 5.7% during the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 66,603 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $63,038,000 after acquiring an additional 3,598 shares during the last quarter. Narwhal Capital Management grew its stake in BlackRock by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 22,169 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $20,983,000 after acquiring an additional 455 shares in the last quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 1st quarter valued at about $208,000. Finally, Uncommon Cents Investing LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Uncommon Cents Investing LLC now owns 720 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $681,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Argus raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,028.00 to $1,090.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,124.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,035.00 to $1,105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,096.31.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $852.01, for a total transaction of $1,704,020.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 66,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,261,628.34. This represents a 2.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $1,004.50 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $952.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $969.25. The stock has a market cap of $155.62 billion, a PE ratio of 24.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.41. BlackRock has a 1-year low of $773.74 and a 1-year high of $1,084.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 4.34 and a quick ratio of 4.34.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.84 by $0.46. BlackRock had a net margin of 30.09% and a return on equity of 15.57%. The firm had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $9.81 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 5th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 50.63%.

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.