BlackRock $BLK Shares Bought by Heartland Bank & Trust Co

Heartland Bank & Trust Co lifted its position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 129.9% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,860 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,051 shares during the quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,789,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. Shum Financial Group Inc. grew its position in BlackRock by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Shum Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,183 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,336,000 after acquiring an additional 9 shares during the period. First Bancorp Inc ME raised its position in BlackRock by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. First Bancorp Inc ME now owns 321 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $344,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares during the period. Rather & Kittrell Inc. raised its position in BlackRock by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Rather & Kittrell Inc. now owns 430 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $461,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares during the period. Oakworth Capital Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 755 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $808,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mechanics Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Mechanics Financial Corp now owns 1,900 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,034,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on BLK shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,383.00 to $1,488.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. BNP Paribas Exane increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,300.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $1,389.00 price target on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $1,258.00 price target on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,250.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,304.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

More BlackRock News

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock reported record second-quarter results, with revenue and earnings beating Wall Street estimates and client assets reaching a new high, highlighting strong operating momentum. Blackrock CEO Says Client Demand Has ‘Never Been Greater’ as Assets Reach Record $15.3 Trillion
• Positive Sentiment: BMO Capital Markets raised its price target on BlackRock to $1,300 and kept an outperform view, while other firms also lifted targets after the earnings beat, signaling rising Street confidence. BlackRock price target raised by BMO Capital Markets
• Positive Sentiment: J.P. Morgan upgraded BlackRock to overweight/buy-equivalent and Bank of America reiterated a buy rating, citing growth opportunities in tokenization, private markets, direct indexing, and automation-led margin expansion. JP Morgan upgrades BlackRock to buy-equivalent after Q2 earnings
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock’s iShares business surpassed $6 trillion in assets, and Bitcoin ETF inflows continued to support the firm’s fast-growing ETF platform, reinforcing a strong fee-based growth story. BlackRock iShares Surpasses $6 Trillion in Assets
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles highlighted BlackRock’s expanding ownership stakes in other companies and broader market commentary, but these items are not likely to materially move BLK shares on their own.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK opened at $1,072.30 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $1,033.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $1,043.13. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $917.39 and a 12-month high of $1,219.94. The firm has a market cap of $166.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.63, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a current ratio of 4.09, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $13.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $12.69 by $1.22. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.01% and a net margin of 24.09%.The company had revenue of $7.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $12.05 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue was up 30.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock will post 54.72 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were given a $5.73 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $22.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 57.53%.

BlackRock Company 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.