Valley National Advisers Inc. Lowers Stake in BlackRock $BLK

Valley National Advisers Inc. lessened its holdings in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 3.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 66 shares during the quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $2,273,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Petros Family Wealth LLC raised its stake in BlackRock by 4.3% during the second quarter. Petros Family Wealth LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,889,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Joule Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the second quarter valued at $229,000. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 8.2% in the 2nd quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 14,110 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $14,805,000 after purchasing an additional 1,064 shares during the last quarter. Global Strategic Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the second quarter worth approximately $210,000. Finally, Beacon Financial Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 5.4% during the second quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC now owns 252 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $265,000 after buying an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $1,160.75 on Monday. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $773.74 and a 12-month high of $1,183.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $179.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a current ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $1,129.67 and a 200 day moving average of $1,028.70.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.41 by $1.64. The business had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.40 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.53% and a net margin of 29.68%.BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $10.36 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were given a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 50.39%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the topic of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on BlackRock from $959.00 to $1,210.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,163.00 to $1,312.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,213.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,936,571.86. This trade represents a 55.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director owned 61,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,763,964.50. The trade was a 21.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

BlackRock Company 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.