Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. increased its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,952 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $12,298,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the first quarter worth $27,000. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 1st quarter worth $38,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Olistico Wealth LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $53,000. 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 company’s 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,732 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,826,802.56. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Pamela Daley sold 1,531 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $842.08, for a total transaction of $1,289,224.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,732 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,826,802.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 11,061 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $852.95, for a total value of $9,434,479.95. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,527,116. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 66,042 shares of company stock valued at $56,857,777. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on BLK shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $912.00 to $937.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $995.31.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of BlackRock stock traded down $2.72 on Tuesday, reaching $983.50. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 43,520 shares, compared to its average volume of 570,004. The company has a market capitalization of $146.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 5.06, a current ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $600.26 and a 52 week high of $1,032.00. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $930.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $845.90.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.42 by $1.04. The company had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.36% and a return on equity of 15.44%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $10.91 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.73 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Company 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.