Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. Grows Position in BlackRock $BLK

Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 17.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 18,208 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,767 shares during the quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $19,105,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. GM Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in BlackRock by 52.2% in the 2nd quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC now owns 414 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $434,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 3.7% during the second quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 5,444 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,704,000 after buying an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Wambolt & Associates LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 7.1% in the second quarter. Wambolt & Associates LLC now owns 470 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $496,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Choreo LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.4% in the second quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 6,676 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,005,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Country Trust Bank acquired a new position in BlackRock during the second quarter worth about $41,335,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BLK has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Loop Capital set a $1,255.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Citigroup increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,160.00 to $1,265.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Zacks Research cut BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,310.00 to $1,360.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,302.59.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK stock opened at $1,041.18 on Thursday. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $773.74 and a 52-week high of $1,219.94. The company has a quick ratio of 4.04, a current ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a market cap of $161.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.48. The business has a fifty day moving average of $1,111.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $1,080.58.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.78 by ($0.23). The business had revenue of $6.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.22 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.36% and a net margin of 26.64%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $11.46 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 53.59%.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other news, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,165.04, for a total value of $13,980,480.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 7,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,394,113.20. This represents a 62.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

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.