KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Acquires 2,500 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Key Points

• KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS increased its holdings in BlackRock by 5.0%, acquiring an additional 2,500 shares during the second quarter, raising their total ownership to 52,955 shares valued at approximately $55.6 million.
• Several other institutional investors, including Royal Bank of Canada and Goldman Sachs, significantly boosted their stakes in BlackRock during the first quarter, reflecting strong interest in the asset management firm.
• BlackRock's recent earnings report showed a 12.05 EPS for the quarter, beating estimates, with a revenue growth of 12.9% compared to the previous year.

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS boosted its holdings in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 52,955 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 2,500 shares during the quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS's holdings in BlackRock were worth $55,563,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 73.2% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,313,350 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,243,059,000 after buying an additional 555,098 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in BlackRock by 2.9% in 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 during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in BlackRock by 32.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,131,919 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,071,339,000 after purchasing an additional 279,336 shares in the last quarter. Unisphere Establishment lifted its stake in BlackRock by 29.2% in the 1st quarter. Unisphere Establishment now owns 839,500 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $794,570,000 after purchasing an additional 189,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 58.8% during the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 381,447 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $361,032,000 after purchasing an additional 141,258 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BLK shares. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on BlackRock from $959.00 to $1,210.00 in a report on Thursday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,093.00 to $1,242.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Zacks Research cut BlackRock from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on BlackRock from $1,180.00 to $1,170.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,224.00 to $1,362.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $1,222.87.

BlackRock Price Performance

NYSE:BLK opened at $1,179.86 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $182.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.53, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.45. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,130.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1,030.30. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $773.74 and a 1 year high of $1,184.13.

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

BlackRock Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,125.43, for a total transaction of $13,565,933.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 251,697 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $283,267,354.71. This represents a 4.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 18,036 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,125.60, for a total value of $20,301,321.60. Following the completion of 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.98% of the company's stock.

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.

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