Clare Market Investments LLC Sells 976 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Key Points

• Clare Market Investments LLC reduced its stake in BlackRock by 70%, selling 976 shares, and now holds 419 shares worth approximately $440,000.
• Several institutional investors have increased their positions in BlackRock, with a majority of 80.69% of the stock currently owned by these investors.
• BlackRock's quarterly earnings exceeded analysts' expectations with an EPS of $12.05, beating the consensus estimate by $1.64, while the company announced a quarterly dividend of $5.21 per share.

Clare Market Investments LLC cut its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 70.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 419 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 976 shares during the period. Clare Market Investments LLC's holdings in BlackRock were worth $440,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. McLean Asset Management Corp lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 3.9% during the 2nd 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 last quarter. Trust Co. of Oklahoma increased its position in shares of 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. Detalus Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 20.4% during the first quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 65 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. raised its stake in BlackRock by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 619 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $650,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the subject of several analyst reports. Argus restated a "buy" rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,018.00 to $1,093.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. 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. Wall Street Zen raised BlackRock to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of BlackRock from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,154.07.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of BLK traded up $5.63 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $1,142.76. 1,504,904 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 445,605. The company has a current ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a market cap of $176.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.63, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.45. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,119.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1,013.18. BlackRock has a 52 week low of $773.74 and a 52 week high of $1,171.89.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $10.41 by $1.64. BlackRock had a net margin of 29.68% and a return on equity of 15.53%. The firm had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.40 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $10.36 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Rachel Lord sold 18,036 shares of the business'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 owned 19,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,617,148. The trade was a 48.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 14,828 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The stock was 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 owned 263,751 shares in the company, valued at approximately $296,002,472.28. The trade was a 5.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573. Corporate insiders own 1.98% of the company's stock.

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.