Alyeska Investment Group L.P. Purchases New Stake in BlackRock $BLK

Key Points

• Alyeska Investment Group L.P. has acquired a new stake in BlackRock, purchasing 60,718 shares valued at approximately $57.5 million.
• Numerous institutional investors have increased their holdings in BlackRock, with Vanguard Group, GAMMA Investing, and Royal Bank of Canada boosting their stakes significantly during the first quarter.
• BlackRock reported earnings of $12.05 per share for the last quarter, exceeding estimates, and has declared a quarterly dividend of $5.21 per share, contributing to a 1.9% dividend yield.

Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 60,718 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $57,468,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. Investment Management Corp VA ADV acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Fairway Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 76.5% during the 1st quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 13 shares during the period. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. Cheviot Value Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,122.81, for a total transaction of $4,978,539.54. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,506 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,936,571.86. This trade represents a 55.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 18,036 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The shares were 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. This represents a 48.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573. Company insiders own 1.98% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on BlackRock from $1,180.00 to $1,170.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,214.00 to $1,224.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $959.00 to $1,210.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $1,154.07.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BlackRock stock traded up $5.06 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $1,104.21. 486,200 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 737,801. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,110.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1,002.29. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $773.74 and a fifty-two week high of $1,171.89. The stock has a market cap of $170.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 4.04 and a quick ratio of 4.04.

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

BlackRock Announces Dividend

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