Royal Bank of Canada Purchases 555,098 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Key Points

• The Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in BlackRock by 73.2% during Q1, owning over 1.3 million shares worth approximately $1.24 billion.
• BlackRock's recent quarterly earnings surpassed expectations, reporting earnings of $12.05 per share and revenue growth of 12.9% year-over-year.
• BlackRock has declared a quarterly dividend of $5.21, resulting in an annualized yield of 1.8%, indicating a solid dividend policy amidst institutional investor interest.

Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 73.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,313,350 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 555,098 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned about 0.85% of BlackRock worth $1,243,059,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BLK. Fairway Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 76.5% in 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 last quarter. Investment Management Corp VA ADV bought a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Cheviot Value Management LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the first quarter worth about $30,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the first quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company's stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE BLK traded up $8.73 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $1,108.22. The stock had a trading volume of 459,360 shares, compared to its average volume of 740,783. The company has a market capitalization of $171.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.45. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $1,108.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1,000.33. BlackRock has a 52 week low of $773.74 and a 52 week high of $1,171.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a current ratio of 4.04.

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

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be given a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio is presently 50.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,125.43, for a total value 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 $283,267,354.71. This represents a 4.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,122.81, for a total transaction of $4,978,539.54. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,506 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,936,571.86. This trade represents a 55.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.98% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on BLK. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on BlackRock from $1,180.00 to $1,170.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,018.00 to $1,093.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on BlackRock from $959.00 to $1,210.00 in a report on Thursday, July 10th. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $980.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,151.21.

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.