Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Has $60.30 Million Position in BlackRock $BLK

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. cut its stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 1.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 57,467 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 924 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $60,297,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in BlackRock by 23.1% during 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 last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 1,052 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 1st quarter valued at about $208,000. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $16,026,000. Finally, AE Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 17.0% in the first quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,532 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,450,000 after buying an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 2.1%

BLK stock opened at $1,013.85 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $157.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a 50-day moving average of $1,117.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $1,077.23. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $773.74 and a 52-week high of $1,219.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 4.04 and a quick ratio of 4.04.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted 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 business had revenue of $6.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.22 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.36% and a net margin of 26.64%.BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $11.46 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be given a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.59%.

Insider Activity

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on BLK. Zacks Research cut shares of BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,362.00 to $1,486.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. TD Cowen upped 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. Barclays raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,310.00 to $1,360.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,280.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,302.53.

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.