Hilltop National Bank Makes New $1.33 Million Investment in BlackRock $BLK

Hilltop National Bank purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,263 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $1,325,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. McLean Asset Management Corp boosted its stake 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 worth $285,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Oklahoma boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Trust Co. of Oklahoma now owns 2,023 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,123,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. TOWER TRUST & INVESTMENT Co boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. TOWER TRUST & INVESTMENT Co now owns 799 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $838,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Detalus Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 20.4% during the 1st 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. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on BLK. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $980.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Argus reissued a "buy" rating on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $1,115.00 price target on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Citigroup raised 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,194.86.

BlackRock Trading Up 1.7%

BLK opened at $1,160.23 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 4.04 and a quick ratio of 4.04. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $1,128.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $1,026.28. BlackRock has a 1-year low of $773.74 and a 1-year high of $1,183.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $179.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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. BlackRock had a net margin of 29.68% and a return on equity of 15.53%. The business had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.40 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $10.36 EPS. The business's revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 14,828 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 263,751 shares in the company, valued at $296,002,472.28. This trade represents a 5.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the firm's 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 of the company's stock, valued at $68,763,964.50. This represents a 21.83% 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 valued at $74,694,573. Company 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.

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