Pictet North America Advisors SA Sells 155 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Pictet North America Advisors SA reduced its holdings in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 22.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 525 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 155 shares during the period. Pictet North America Advisors SA’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $551,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Revisor Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $696,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.1% during the second quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 845 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $887,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. CGN Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.2% during the second quarter. CGN Advisors LLC now owns 3,484 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,656,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Martin Capital Advisors LLP increased its holdings in BlackRock by 3.0% in the second quarter. Martin Capital Advisors LLP now owns 2,073 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,176,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GSB Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the second quarter valued at about $231,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on BLK. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $980.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. 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 report on Wednesday, July 16th. Bank of America upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,214.00 to $1,224.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,154.07.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.6%

NYSE BLK opened at $1,135.87 on Tuesday. 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. The company has a market cap of $175.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.45. The business’s fifty day moving average is $1,120.31 and its 200 day moving average is $1,014.87.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $10.36 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,122.81, for a total value of $4,978,539.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,936,571.86. This trade represents a 55.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 14,828 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,122.28, for a total value of $16,641,167.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 263,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $296,002,472.28. This trade represents a 5.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573. Insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock 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.