Prudent Man Advisors LLC Takes $2.02 Million Position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)

Prudent Man Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 2,132 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $2,018,000. BlackRock accounts for about 0.7% of Prudent Man Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.8% in the first quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 2,352 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,226,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock during the first quarter valued at $201,000. CWM LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 5.9% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 9,350 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $8,849,000 after acquiring an additional 519 shares in the last quarter. Westmount Partners LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock during the first quarter valued at $287,000. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in BlackRock during the first quarter valued at $7,383,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $912.50, for a total transaction of $9,125,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 66,034 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $60,256,025. This represents a 13.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.98% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of BlackRock to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $959.00 to $1,210.00 in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $1,164.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $980.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,132.29.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE:BLK traded up $9.49 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $1,111.13. 659,727 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 693,665. The stock has a market capitalization of $172.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.00, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.41. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $773.74 and a 52-week high of $1,116.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 4.34 and a quick ratio of 4.34. The company's 50 day moving average price is $996.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $970.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.84 by $0.46. BlackRock had a net margin of 30.09% and a return on equity of 15.57%. The company had revenue of $5.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $9.81 EPS. BlackRock's revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 5th. BlackRock's payout ratio is 50.63%.

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.