Advisors Capital Management LLC Purchases 1,166 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Advisors Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,267 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,166 shares during the period. Advisors Capital Management LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $35,955,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BLK. Grandfield & Dodd LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 3.5% during the second quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 323 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $339,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 7.8% during the 2nd quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services now owns 12,759 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,387,000 after acquiring an additional 926 shares in the last quarter. Intrua Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Intrua Financial LLC now owns 777 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $815,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 28.0% in the second quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 64 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allianz SE raised its stake in BlackRock by 0.9% during the second quarter. Allianz SE now owns 11,119 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,667,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on BLK. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,362.00 to $1,486.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased 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, October 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,303.41.

Insider Activity

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

BlackRock Stock Down 2.3%

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $1,068.57 on Friday. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $773.74 and a 12-month high of $1,219.94. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $1,128.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $1,073.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $165.47 billion, a PE ratio of 27.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a current ratio of 4.04, a quick 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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.78 by ($0.23). BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.36% and a net margin of 26.64%.The firm had revenue of $6.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $11.46 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.