Ally Financial Inc. Purchases Shares of 2,000 BlackRock $BLK

Key Points

• Ally Financial Inc. acquired 2,000 shares of BlackRock, worth approximately $1.89 million, during the first quarter, according to its recent SEC filing.
• Multiple institutional investors, including Arizona State Retirement System and Securian Asset Management, have also made significant purchases in BlackRock during the same period.
• BlackRock announced a quarterly dividend of $5.21, scheduled for payment on September 23rd, representing an annualized yield of 1.8%.

Ally Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,000 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $1,893,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Securian Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the first quarter worth about $7,331,000. Prudent Man Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the first quarter worth about $2,018,000. Arizona State Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the first quarter worth about $40,868,000. Allianz SE increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 2.6% in the first quarter. Allianz SE now owns 11,025 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $10,435,000 after buying an additional 277 shares during the period. Finally, Polar Capital Holdings Plc purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth about $15,307,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Rachel Lord sold 18,036 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,125.60, for a total value of $20,301,321.60. Following the sale, the director directly owned 19,205 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,617,148. The trade was a 48.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 251,697 shares in the company, 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573. 1.98% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on BLK shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $1,115.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $980.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price 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. Argus reissued a "buy" rating on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on BlackRock from $959.00 to $1,210.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $1,151.21.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $1,147.8720 on Friday. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $1,086.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $992.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a current ratio of 4.04. The stock has a market cap of $177.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.75, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.42. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $773.74 and a fifty-two week high of $1,171.89.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.41 by $1.64. The business had revenue of $5.42 billion for 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 business's revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $10.36 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be given a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. BlackRock's payout ratio is currently 50.39%.

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.

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