Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC Makes New $225,000 Investment in BlackRock $BLK

Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 214 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $225,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BLK. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake 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 buying an additional 555,098 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,764,072 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,027,419,000 after buying an additional 387,466 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 32.8% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,131,919 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,071,339,000 after acquiring an additional 279,336 shares during the last quarter. McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the second quarter valued at about $231,000. Finally, Unisphere Establishment raised its holdings in BlackRock by 29.2% during the first quarter. Unisphere Establishment now owns 839,500 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $794,570,000 after acquiring an additional 189,500 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Zacks Research cut shares of BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,180.00 to $1,170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective 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. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,303.41.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,165.04, for a total transaction of $13,980,480.00. Following the sale, the director owned 7,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,394,113.20. This represents a 62.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $1,081.66 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $167.50 billion, a PE ratio of 27.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.48. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $1,130.62 and a 200-day moving average of $1,070.51. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $773.74 and a 52-week high of $1,219.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.78 by ($0.23). BlackRock had a net margin of 26.64% and a return on equity of 15.36%. The firm had revenue of $6.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $11.46 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

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.