Liberty One Investment Management LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in BlackRock $BLK

Key Points

• Liberty One Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in BlackRock by 4.6% in Q2, selling 251 shares to hold 5,219 shares worth approximately $5.48 million.
• Several analysts, including Barclays and Citigroup, have increased their price targets for BlackRock, with Barclays setting a new target of $1,360, indicating a positive outlook on the stock.
• BlackRock's recent earnings report revealed a quarterly earnings per share of $11.55, missing estimates by $0.23, while revenue increased 25.2% year-over-year.

Liberty One Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,219 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 251 shares during the quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC's holdings in BlackRock were worth $5,476,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Securian Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $7,331,000. Prudent Man Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,018,000. Allianz SE raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Allianz SE now owns 11,025 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $10,435,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $40,868,000. Finally, Community Financial Services Group LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 17.2% in the 1st quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 5,702 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $5,397,000 after purchasing an additional 836 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,310.00 to $1,360.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $1,320.00 price target on shares of BlackRock and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $980.00 price target on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of BlackRock from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $1,300.81.

BlackRock Price Performance

NYSE:BLK opened at $1,160.01 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a market cap of $179.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $1,141.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $1,046.27. BlackRock has a 1-year low of $773.74 and a 1-year high of $1,219.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $11.78 by ($0.23). The firm had revenue of $6.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.22 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 26.64% and a return on equity of 15.36%. BlackRock's revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $11.46 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were issued a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. BlackRock's payout ratio is presently 53.59%.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

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 completion of the sale, the director owned 19,205 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,617,148. The trade was a 48.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 251,697 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $283,267,354.71. The trade was a 4.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573 in the last quarter. 1.98% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About BlackRock

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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