Means Investment CO. Inc. Sells 517 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Means Investment CO. Inc. decreased its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 19.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,146 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 517 shares during the period. Means Investment CO. Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,690,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Platte River Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 23.2% during the 2nd quarter. Platte River Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,996 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,571,000 after acquiring an additional 376 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.5% during the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 41,446 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $32,631,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 174.8% in the second quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 184,291 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $145,096,000 after buying an additional 117,218 shares during the period. Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE raised its holdings in BlackRock by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE now owns 797 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $627,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Portman Square Capital LLP boosted its position in BlackRock by 104.6% during the 2nd quarter. Portman Square Capital LLP now owns 465 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $366,000 after buying an additional 10,500 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $875.03, for a total value of $10,500,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,670,194.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $875.03, for a total value of $10,500,360.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,670,194.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 29,450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $843.25, for a total transaction of $24,833,712.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 353,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $298,272,703.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 81,042 shares of company stock valued at $68,587,117 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $842.00 to $837.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Citigroup increased their price target on BlackRock from $920.00 to $930.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on BlackRock from $974.00 to $969.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $910.00 to $920.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $915.00 to $934.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $874.07.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:BLK traded down $2.28 during trading on Monday, reaching $870.21. 456,031 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 600,893. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 5.32 and a quick ratio of 5.32. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $818.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $802.54. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $596.18 and a 1-year high of $885.10. The firm has a market cap of $129.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.32.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $10.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.96 by $0.40. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.53% and a net margin of 32.36%. The company had revenue of $4.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $9.28 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.34%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.84%.

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.