BlackRock $BLK Shares Acquired by Lodestar Private Asset Management LLC

Lodestar Private Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 10.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 329 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Lodestar Private Asset Management LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $345,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BLK. Fairway Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 76.5% in the 1st quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% in the 1st quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 200.0% in the 2nd quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 27 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Cheviot Value Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BLK. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,163.00 to $1,312.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,093.00 to $1,242.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,221.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. BNP Paribas Exane increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,160.00 to $1,265.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,258.56.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,122.81, for a total value of $4,978,539.54. Following the sale, the director owned 3,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,936,571.86. The trade was a 55.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 BlackRock 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 sale, the director directly owned 19,205 shares in the company, 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 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573 in the last ninety days. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

BlackRock Trading Down 3.0%

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $1,132.12 on Monday. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $773.74 and a 1 year high of $1,184.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a current ratio of 4.04. The company has a market capitalization of $175.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.37, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.45. The company’s fifty day moving average is $1,134.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1,035.56.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. BlackRock had a net margin of 29.68% and a return on equity of 15.53%. The company had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.40 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $10.36 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

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