Mechanics Financial Corp Purchases New Shares in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)

Mechanics Financial Corp purchased a new stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,907 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $1,805,000. BlackRock makes up about 0.8% of Mechanics Financial Corp's holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest position.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Investment Management Corp VA ADV acquired a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Fairway Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 76.5% during the first quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 13 shares during the period. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock during the first quarter worth about $31,000. Curio Wealth LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Cedar Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $912.50, for a total value of $9,125,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 66,034 shares in the company, valued at $60,256,025. The trade was a 13.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,018.00 to $1,093.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Telsey Advisory Group restated an "outperform" rating on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Barclays raised their target price on BlackRock from $990.00 to $1,220.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,151.21.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.1%

BLK stock traded down $1.17 during trading on Friday, reaching $1,104.21. The company had a trading volume of 991,217 shares, compared to its average volume of 703,549. BlackRock has a 52 week low of $773.74 and a 52 week high of $1,119.19. The business has a 50 day moving average of $1,013.56 and a 200 day moving average of $973.32. The company has a market cap of $171.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.70, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 4.34 and a quick ratio of 4.34.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last announced 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. BlackRock had a net margin of 29.68% and a return on equity of 15.83%. The company had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $10.36 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th were paid a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 5th. BlackRock's payout ratio is currently 50.39%.

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.