TrustBank Invests $595,000 in BlackRock $BLK

TrustBank acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 556 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $595,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. grew its position in BlackRock by 866.7% during the third quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. now owns 29 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Birchbrook Inc. acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Collier Financial acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the third quarter worth approximately $37,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BLK. Weiss Ratings raised BlackRock from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,181.00 to $1,313.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on BlackRock from $1,269.00 to $1,128.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 13th. CICC Research increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,250.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,269.06.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of BLK opened at $1,077.84 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $167.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.05, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a current ratio of 4.09. BlackRock has a 52 week low of $917.39 and a 52 week high of $1,219.94. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $1,024.21 and a 200-day moving average of $1,054.00.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 14th. The asset manager reported $12.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $12.40 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $6.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.56 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 24.40%.BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $9.64 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 52.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $5.73 per share. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 57.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In related news, President Robert Kapito sold 8,739 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,056.60, for a total transaction of $9,233,627.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the president directly owned 210,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $222,082,527.60. This trade represents a 3.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 33,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,050.55, for a total value of $35,613,645.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 230,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $242,168,583.80. This represents a 12.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 1.92% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Profile

BlackRock, Inc is a global investment management firm that provides a broad range of products and services to institutional, intermediary and individual investors. Its core activities include portfolio management across active and index strategies, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) under the iShares brand, fixed income, equity and multi-asset solutions, as well as alternatives such as private equity, real estate and infrastructure. The firm also offers cash management and liquidity solutions and retirement-focused products designed for defined contribution and defined benefit investors.

In addition to traditional investment management, BlackRock is known for its technology and risk management capabilities, most prominently its Aladdin platform, which combines portfolio management, trading and risk analytics and is used both internally and licensed to external clients.