Crestwood Advisors Group LLC Increases Stock Holdings in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)

Crestwood Advisors Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 82.1% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,852 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 835 shares during the period. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,753,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Fairway Wealth LLC increased its stake in BlackRock by 76.5% during the 1st quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Investment Management Corp VA ADV acquired a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock in the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock in the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BLK. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $1,115.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Argus reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $990.00 to $1,220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,151.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $912.50, for a total transaction of $9,125,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 66,034 shares in the company, valued at $60,256,025. This trade represents a 13.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of BLK stock opened at $1,094.13 on Tuesday. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $773.74 and a 12-month high of $1,119.19. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $1,013.56 and a 200-day moving average of $972.65. The company has a market capitalization of $169.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a quick ratio of 4.34, a current ratio of 4.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.41 by $1.64. The firm had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.40 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 29.68% and a return on equity of 15.83%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $10.36 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th were paid a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 50.39%.

BlackRock Company 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.