Argentarii LLC Buys 27 Shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)

Argentarii LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 6.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 433 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the quarter. Argentarii LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $410,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC now owns 127 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $130,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 534 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $542,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares during the period. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 257 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $263,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Detalus Advisors LLC raised its position in BlackRock by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Detalus Advisors LLC now owns 409 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $387,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 123 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $126,000 after buying an additional 12 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $912.50, for a total transaction of $9,125,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 66,034 shares in the company, valued at $60,256,025. This trade represents a 13.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on BlackRock from $994.00 to $1,115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,111.00 to $1,164.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,105.00 to $1,180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,110.92.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK stock opened at $1,076.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 4.34 and a quick ratio of 4.34. The company’s 50-day moving average is $979.68 and its 200-day moving average is $969.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $166.75 billion, a PE ratio of 26.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.41. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $773.74 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.84 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $5.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.47 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.57% and a net margin of 30.09%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $9.81 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.94%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.63%.

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.