Financial Perspectives Inc Increases Stock Position in BlackRock $BLK

Financial Perspectives Inc increased its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 312 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 12 shares during the quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $327,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BLK. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 23.1% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,575 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,615,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 1,052 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 10.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,698 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,500,000 after purchasing an additional 355 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in BlackRock by 24.9% during the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 633 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $599,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisor Resource Council acquired a new position in BlackRock during the 1st quarter worth $542,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLK has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,160.00 to $1,265.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,301.00 to $1,407.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $1,320.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,300.81.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $1,161.63 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $179.88 billion, a PE ratio of 29.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.45. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $1,140.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $1,043.90. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $773.74 and a fifty-two week high of $1,219.94. 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 quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $11.78 by ($0.23). The firm had revenue of $6.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.22 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 26.64% and a return on equity of 15.36%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $11.46 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.59%.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,120.50, for a total transaction of $19,207,611.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 61,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,763,964.50. This trade represents a 21.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,122.81, for a total transaction of $4,978,539.54. Following the transaction, the director directly 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 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 90 days. Corporate 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.