Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC Reduces Stake in BlackRock $BLK

Key Points

• Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC drastically reduced its stake in BlackRock by 94.9%, owning only 797 shares at the end of Q2, valued at $836,000.
• Several hedge funds have increased their holdings in BlackRock; notable increases include 200% by Garde Capital Inc. and 100% by Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC.
• BlackRock's recent quarterly earnings beat expectations, reporting $12.05 EPS and $5.42 billion in revenue, with a year-over-year revenue increase of 12.9%.

Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 94.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 797 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 14,829 shares during the quarter. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in BlackRock were worth $836,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BLK. Fairway Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 76.5% in the 1st quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% in the 1st quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 200.0% in the 2nd quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 27 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Investment Management Corp VA ADV purchased a new position in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Cheviot Value Management LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock during the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Zacks Research downgraded BlackRock from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $1,115.00 price target on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an "outperform" rating on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,018.00 to $1,093.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,154.07.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Rachel Lord sold 18,036 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,125.60, for a total transaction of $20,301,321.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 19,205 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,617,148. The trade was a 48.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,125.43, for a total value of $13,565,933.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 251,697 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $283,267,354.71. This represents a 4.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573 over the last 90 days. 1.98% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of BLK stock opened at $1,124.34 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The business's 50 day moving average is $1,115.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1,007.82. The company has a market capitalization of $174.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.45. BlackRock has a twelve month low of $773.74 and a twelve month high of $1,171.89.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.41 by $1.64. The business had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.40 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.53% and a net margin of 29.68%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $10.36 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.39%.

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.

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