Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Purchases 6,237 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Key Points

• Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its stake in BlackRock by 43.0%, acquiring an additional 6,237 shares, bringing their total holdings to 20,751 shares worth approximately $19.6 million.
• CEO Laurence Fink sold 14,828 shares of BlackRock, while Director J. Richard Kushel also sold 17,142 shares, indicating significant insider selling in recent weeks.
• BlackRock reported strong financial performance with $12.05 earnings per share for the past quarter, exceeding expectations and marking a 12.9% revenue increase year-over-year.

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC boosted its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 43.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 20,751 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 6,237 shares during the quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC's holdings in BlackRock were worth $19,641,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in BlackRock by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,764,072 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $13,027,419,000 after purchasing an additional 387,466 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in BlackRock by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,097,524 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $4,200,450,000 after purchasing an additional 93,844 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 104,598.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,500,083 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $3,312,759,000 after purchasing an additional 3,496,740 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 18.6% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,100,163 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,152,907,000 after buying an additional 329,244 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 20.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,591,716 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,631,684,000 after buying an additional 272,176 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price 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. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,214.00 to $1,224.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BlackRock to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $1,151.21.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 21.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 251,697 shares in the company, valued at $283,267,354.71. The trade was a 4.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573. Insiders own 1.98% of the company's stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of BLK traded up $1.34 on Monday, reaching $1,136.35. The stock had a trading volume of 405,809 shares, compared to its average volume of 763,826. The firm has a market capitalization of $175.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.42. 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,071.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $988.76. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $773.74 and a 12-month high of $1,171.89.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $10.36 earnings per share. BlackRock's quarterly revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

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