Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC Trims Stock Position in BlackRock $BLK

Key Points

• Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in BlackRock by 3.8% in the second quarter, now holding 5,767 shares valued at approximately $6.05 million.
• Equities analysts have modified price targets for BlackRock, with Bank of America increasing its target from $1,224 to $1,396 and Barclays from $990 to $1,220, highlighting a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."
• The CEO, Laurence Fink, and Director Fabrizio Freda sold a significant number of shares recently, with Fink's sale totaling over $16.6 million, representing a decrease in their ownership.

Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC cut its stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 3.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,767 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 230 shares during the quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC's holdings in BlackRock were worth $6,051,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. McLean Asset Management Corp increased 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 buying an additional 10 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Oklahoma increased its holdings in BlackRock by 0.5% during the second 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 holdings in BlackRock by 1.3% during the second 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 during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 4.7% during the second quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 223 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $234,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the period. Finally, Detalus Advisors LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 2.8% during the first quarter. Detalus Advisors LLC now owns 409 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $387,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on BLK shares. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,224.00 to $1,396.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $990.00 to $1,220.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,180.00 to $1,170.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of BlackRock from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $1,115.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $1,194.86.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 14,828 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,122.28, for a total transaction of $16,641,167.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 263,751 shares in the company, valued at $296,002,472.28. The trade was a 5.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the business'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 owned 3,506 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,936,571.86. This represents a 55.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573. Company insiders own 1.98% of the company's stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 1.7%

BlackRock stock opened at $1,160.23 on Friday. 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 business's 50-day simple moving average is $1,128.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $1,026.28. The company has a market cap of $179.66 billion, a PE ratio of 28.05, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.45. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $773.74 and a fifty-two week high of $1,183.50.

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

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were given a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. 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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