Texas Bank & Trust Co Sells 275 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Key Points

• Texas Bank & Trust Co reduced its stake in BlackRock by 15.1%, selling 275 shares, and now owns 1,552 shares valued at approximately $1.47 million.
• Analysts have updated their price targets for BlackRock, with Jefferies Financial Group increasing their target from $959.00 to $1,210.00, while Bank of America revised theirs upwards to $1,224.00, indicating a general trend of optimism among brokerages.
• BlackRock reported an EPS of $12.05 for the quarter, exceeding estimates, and announced a quarterly dividend of $5.21 per share, with a yield of 1.8% and a payout ratio of 50.39%.

Texas Bank & Trust Co reduced its holdings in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 15.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,552 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 275 shares during the quarter. Texas Bank & Trust Co's holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,469,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 104,598.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,500,083 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $3,312,759,000 after buying an additional 3,496,740 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 401.5% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,095,241 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,122,743,000 after buying an additional 876,836 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,764,072 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $13,027,419,000 after buying an additional 387,466 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 18.6% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,100,163 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,152,907,000 after buying an additional 329,244 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 32.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,131,919 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,071,339,000 after buying an additional 279,336 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research cut shares of BlackRock from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Argus reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $980.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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 note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,180.00 to $1,170.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $1,151.21.

BlackRock Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of BLK stock traded down $16.08 on Wednesday, hitting $1,098.69. The stock had a trading volume of 412,820 shares, compared to its average volume of 742,465. The business has a 50 day moving average of $1,106.83 and a 200 day moving average of $999.65. The stock has a market cap of $170.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 4.04 and a quick ratio of 4.04. 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 announced its 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 company had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.40 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 29.68% and a return on equity of 15.53%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $10.36 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the firm'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 completion of the sale, the director owned 61,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,763,964.50. This trade represents a 21.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 18,036 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,125.60, for a total transaction of $20,301,321.60. Following the sale, the director owned 19,205 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,617,148. This trade represents a 48.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.