Cornerstone Advisory LLC Raises Position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)

Cornerstone Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 12.5% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 433 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the quarter. Cornerstone Advisory LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $396,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital World Investors grew its position in BlackRock by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,097,524 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,200,450,000 after purchasing an additional 93,844 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 104,598.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,500,083 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,312,759,000 after purchasing an additional 3,496,740 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,006,765 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,072,787,000 after purchasing an additional 190,188 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,390,450 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,450,475,000 after purchasing an additional 26,485 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in BlackRock by 18.6% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,100,163 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,152,907,000 after purchasing an additional 329,244 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.5%

BLK stock opened at $1,123.48 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 4.34, a quick ratio of 4.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $773.74 and a 12-month high of $1,130.66. The stock has a market cap of $174.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.16, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.41. The business’s 50-day moving average is $1,027.64 and its 200 day moving average is $976.67.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted 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 return on equity of 15.83% and a net margin of 29.68%. The company had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $10.36 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 50.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Rachel Lord sold 18,036 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,125.43, for a total value of $13,565,933.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 251,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $283,267,354.71. The trade was a 4.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 49,352 shares of company stock worth $55,486,962. Insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays increased their price target on BlackRock from $990.00 to $1,220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. TD Cowen cut their price target on BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Bank of America increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,214.00 to $1,224.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Citigroup dropped their target price on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,151.21.

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.