Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Acquires 37 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. grew its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 0.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,807 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $10,083,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BLK. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Northwest Financial Advisors bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Lam Group Inc. purchased a new position in BlackRock during the first quarter worth about $33,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director Pamela Daley sold 1,531 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $842.08, for a total value of $1,289,224.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,732 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,826,802.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total value of $10,800,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,832,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Pamela Daley sold 1,531 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $842.08, for a total transaction of $1,289,224.48. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,732 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,826,802.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 93,042 shares of company stock valued at $79,387,117. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE:BLK traded up $4.58 on Friday, reaching $881.22. 19,754 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 583,578. The firm has a market cap of $130.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.06 and a quick ratio of 5.06. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $846.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $811.26. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $596.18 and a 52 week high of $903.46.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $10.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.96 by $0.40. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.36% and a return on equity of 15.44%. The company had revenue of $4.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.85 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $9.28 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.34 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a dividend of $5.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.31%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 51.84%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,025.00 to $1,013.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on BlackRock from $974.00 to $969.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 8th. UBS Group cut their price objective on BlackRock from $842.00 to $837.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on BlackRock from $920.00 to $945.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Argus lifted their target price on BlackRock from $880.00 to $910.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $883.13.

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.