Garde Capital Inc. Buys 18 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Garde Capital Inc. increased its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 200.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 27 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the quarter. Garde Capital Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $28,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BLK. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 104,598.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,500,083 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,312,759,000 after purchasing an additional 3,496,740 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 401.5% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,095,241 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,122,743,000 after purchasing an additional 876,836 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in BlackRock by 73.2% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,313,350 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,243,059,000 after purchasing an additional 555,098 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in BlackRock by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,764,072 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,027,419,000 after buying an additional 387,466 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in BlackRock by 32.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,131,919 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,071,339,000 after buying an additional 279,336 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $1,124.34 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $174.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.18, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.45. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $1,115.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $1,007.38. The company has a quick ratio of 4.04, a current ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. BlackRock has a twelve month low of $773.74 and a twelve month high of $1,171.89.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.41 by $1.64. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.53% and a net margin of 29.68%.The firm had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $10.36 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the director 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 18,036 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,125.60, for a total transaction of $20,301,321.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 19,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,617,148. The trade was a 48.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573 in the last 90 days. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on BLK shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,018.00 to $1,093.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $1,115.00 price target on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded BlackRock to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,154.07.

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.