Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc Has $1.72 Million Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc decreased its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 24.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,068 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 670 shares during the quarter. Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,724,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Farmers Trust Co. acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 1st quarter valued at $218,000. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the 1st quarter valued at $60,000. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. raised its position in BlackRock by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 33,208 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $27,686,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares during the last quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp raised its position in BlackRock by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 11,243 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,373,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atlas Brown Inc. raised its position in BlackRock by 33.0% in the 1st quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. now owns 1,052 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $877,000 after purchasing an additional 261 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. UBS Group boosted their target price on BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $930.00 target price (up previously from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $845.42.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE:BLK traded down $0.54 on Thursday, reaching $783.11. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 321,631 shares, compared to its average volume of 605,507. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $596.18 and a 1-year high of $845.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 5.32 and a current ratio of 5.32. The firm has a market cap of $116.37 billion, a PE ratio of 19.86, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.34. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $775.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $791.05.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.42 by $0.39. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.24% and a net margin of 32.26%. The firm had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $7.93 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a dividend of $5.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.60%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.84%.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total transaction of $7,155,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,151,600. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $807.29, for a total transaction of $25,008,229.62. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 383,168 shares in the company, valued at $309,327,694.72. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total value of $7,155,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,151,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About BlackRock

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.