BlackRock $BLK Shares Sold by Hurlow Wealth Management Group Inc.

Hurlow Wealth Management Group Inc. reduced its position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 399 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 29 shares during the quarter. Hurlow Wealth Management Group Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $419,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. McLean Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in BlackRock by 3.9% during the second quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 266 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $285,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Oklahoma boosted its stake in BlackRock by 0.5% during the second quarter. Trust Co. of Oklahoma now owns 2,023 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,123,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the period. Detalus Advisors LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 2.8% during the first quarter. Detalus Advisors LLC now owns 409 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $387,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the period. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 20.4% during the first quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 65 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. boosted its stake in BlackRock by 1.8% during the second quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 619 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $650,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $1,136.98 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $1,119.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $1,011.55. The stock has a market cap of $176.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.45. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $773.74 and a fifty-two week high of $1,171.89. 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 (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $5.40 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 29.68% and a return on equity of 15.53%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $10.36 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.39%.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,125.43, for a total transaction of $13,565,933.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 251,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $283,267,354.71. This trade represents a 4.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,120.50, for a total transaction of $19,207,611.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 61,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,763,964.50. The trade was a 21.83% 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 ninety days. Company insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,180.00 to $1,170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of BlackRock to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,018.00 to $1,093.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,154.07.

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.