LS Investment Advisors LLC Sells 172 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

LS Investment Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,679 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 172 shares during the quarter. BlackRock comprises 2.1% of LS Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. LS Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $14,352,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 104,598.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,500,083 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,312,759,000 after buying an additional 3,496,740 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada increased 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 valued at $1,243,059,000 after acquiring an additional 555,098 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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 purchasing an additional 387,466 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 32.8% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,131,919 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,071,339,000 after purchasing an additional 279,336 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Unisphere Establishment boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 29.2% during the 1st quarter. Unisphere Establishment now owns 839,500 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $794,570,000 after purchasing an additional 189,500 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on BLK. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on BlackRock from $959.00 to $1,210.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,018.00 to $1,093.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,180.00 to $1,170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,154.07.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,125.43, for a total transaction of $13,565,933.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 18,036 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,125.60, for a total value of $20,301,321.60. Following the transaction, the director 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573. Corporate insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 1.6%

NYSE BLK opened at $1,146.33 on Friday. BlackRock has a 52 week low of $773.74 and a 52 week high of $1,171.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $177.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.72, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 4.04, a current ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a fifty day moving average of $1,123.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $1,018.07.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.41 by $1.64. The firm had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.40 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 29.68% and a return on equity of 15.53%. The business’s revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $10.36 EPS. On average, analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.39%.

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.