Foundations Investment Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)

Foundations Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 38.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,379 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 385 shares during the quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,306,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,097,524 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,200,450,000 after buying an additional 93,844 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 104,598.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,500,083 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,312,759,000 after acquiring an additional 3,496,740 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,006,765 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,072,787,000 after acquiring an additional 190,188 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,390,450 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,450,475,000 after acquiring an additional 26,485 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 18.6% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,100,163 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,152,907,000 after acquiring an additional 329,244 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.3%

BLK opened at $1,120.79 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $1,032.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $978.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 4.34 and a current ratio of 4.34. The company has a market cap of $173.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.10, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.41. BlackRock has a one year low of $773.74 and a one year high of $1,130.66.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its 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. The company had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.40 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.83% and a net margin of 29.68%. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $10.36 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be given a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 50.39%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Rachel Lord sold 18,036 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,125.60, for a total value of $20,301,321.60. Following the sale, the director directly owned 19,205 shares in the company, valued at $21,617,148. This represents a 48.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,125.43, for a total value of $13,565,933.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 251,697 shares in the company, valued at $283,267,354.71. This represents a 4.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 49,352 shares of company stock worth $55,486,962 over the last three months. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on BLK. Barclays raised their target price on BlackRock from $990.00 to $1,220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Argus reissued a “buy” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen raised BlackRock to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,151.21.

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.