BlackRock $BLK Shares Acquired by Cresset Asset Management LLC

Cresset Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 7.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,509 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 616 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $8,929,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% in the 1st quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. raised its holdings in BlackRock by 200.0% in the second quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 27 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the period. Traub Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 107.1% during the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 29 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 87.5% in the second quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of BLK opened at $1,071.87 on Friday. BlackRock has a one year low of $773.74 and a one year high of $1,219.94. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $1,100.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $1,084.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 3.33 and a current ratio of 3.33. The company has a market capitalization of $166.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.47.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results 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). The business had revenue of $6.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.22 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 26.64% and a return on equity of 14.80%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $11.46 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 53.59%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BLK. Zacks Research cut shares of BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,301.00 to $1,407.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. UBS Group reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Argus boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,165.00 to $1,330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,280.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,302.59.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of the 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 sale, the director directly owned 7,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,394,113.20. This represents a 62.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Martin Small sold 1,258 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,043.38, for a total transaction of $1,312,572.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 6,209 shares in the company, valued at $6,478,346.42. This represents a 16.85% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

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.