BlackRock $BLK Shares Purchased by Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI

Key Points

• Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI increased its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 130.6% during the second quarter, now owning shares valued at $2.91 million.
• Several prominent hedge funds, including the Royal Bank of Canada and Vanguard Group Inc., have significantly increased their holdings of BlackRock's stock in recent quarters.
• BlackRock recently reported earnings of $12.05 per share, surpassing expectations, and has announced a quarterly dividend of $5.21 per share with a yield of 1.8%.

Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI increased its stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 130.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,774 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 1,571 shares during the period. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI's holdings in BlackRock were worth $2,911,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BLK. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in BlackRock by 73.2% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,313,350 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,243,059,000 after acquiring an additional 555,098 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in BlackRock by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,764,072 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $13,027,419,000 after acquiring an additional 387,466 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in BlackRock by 32.8% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,131,919 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,071,339,000 after acquiring an additional 279,336 shares in the last quarter. McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the 2nd quarter valued at about $231,000. Finally, Unisphere Establishment grew its stake in BlackRock by 29.2% during the 1st quarter. Unisphere Establishment now owns 839,500 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $794,570,000 after acquiring an additional 189,500 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director directly owned 3,506 shares in the company, valued at $3,936,571.86. This represents a 55.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,120.50, for a total transaction of $19,207,611.00. Following the sale, the director owned 61,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,763,964.50. This trade represents a 21.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.98% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the subject of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective 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, October 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,221.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,224.00 to $1,362.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target 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, September 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $1,258.13.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE:BLK opened at $1,165.64 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 stock has a market capitalization of $180.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.18, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $1,134.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $1,033.55. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $773.74 and a fifty-two week high of $1,184.13.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $10.41 by $1.64. The firm had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 quarter last year, the company posted $10.36 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were issued 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 dividend payout ratio is 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding BLK? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.