Generali Asset Management SPA SGR Has $14.59 Million Holdings in BlackRock $BLK

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR decreased its position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 1.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,904 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 147 shares during the period. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $14,589,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Welch Group LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 760 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $797,000 after buying an additional 9 shares during the period. McLean Asset Management Corp increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 10 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Oklahoma raised its stake in BlackRock by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Trust Co. of Oklahoma now owns 2,023 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,123,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. TOWER TRUST & INVESTMENT Co boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. TOWER TRUST & INVESTMENT Co now owns 799 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $838,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the period. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 223 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $234,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. TD Cowen upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,252.00 to $1,301.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research lowered BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,224.00 to $1,396.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. One investment 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,264.56.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $1,193.23 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $1,137.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1,038.10. BlackRock has a one year low of $773.74 and a one year high of $1,209.82. The firm has a market cap of $184.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 4.04 and a quick ratio of 4.04.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.78 by ($0.23). BlackRock had a net margin of 29.68% and a return on equity of 15.53%. The company had revenue of $6.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $11.46 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.39%.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on 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 owned 3,506 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,936,571.86. The trade was a 55.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 18,036 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,125.60, for a total value of $20,301,321.60. Following the sale, the director owned 19,205 shares in the company, valued at $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 valued at $74,694,573 over the last three months. 1.98% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.