ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. Sells 1,544 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Key Points

• ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. reduced its stake in BlackRock by 12.0% during the 2nd quarter, selling 1,544 shares and retaining 11,337 shares valued at approximately $11.9 million.
• Several institutional investors, including McLean Asset Management Corp and Trust Co. of Oklahoma, have adjusted their holdings in BlackRock, with institutional ownership now at 80.69%.
• BlackRock reported earnings of $12.05 per share for the last quarter, exceeding expectations, and declared a quarterly dividend of $5.21 per share, reflecting a 1.8% yield.

ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. reduced its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 12.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,337 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 1,544 shares during the period. ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V.'s holdings in BlackRock were worth $11,894,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BLK. McLean Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in BlackRock by 3.9% during the second quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 266 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $285,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Oklahoma grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Trust Co. of Oklahoma now owns 2,023 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,123,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the period. TOWER TRUST & INVESTMENT Co increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. TOWER TRUST & INVESTMENT Co now owns 799 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $838,000 after buying an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Detalus Advisors LLC raised its stake in BlackRock by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Detalus Advisors LLC now owns 409 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $387,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 20.4% during the first quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 65 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on BLK shares. Zacks Research lowered BlackRock from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $1,115.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,093.00 to $1,242.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,194.86.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK stock opened at $1,160.23 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.04, a current ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. BlackRock has a 12 month low of $773.74 and a 12 month high of $1,183.50. The firm has a market cap of $179.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.45. The company's 50-day moving average price is $1,128.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1,026.28.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $10.41 by $1.64. BlackRock had a net margin of 29.68% and a return on equity of 15.53%. The company had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $10.36 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.39%.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,125.43, for a total transaction of $13,565,933.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 251,697 shares of the company's stock, valued at $283,267,354.71. The trade was a 4.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,122.81, for a total transaction of $4,978,539.54. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,506 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,936,571.86. The trade was a 55.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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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