Truist Financial Corp Boosts Stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)

Truist Financial Corp grew its holdings in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 3.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 224,254 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 6,919 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp owned about 0.14% of BlackRock worth $212,251,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in BlackRock by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,376,606 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $13,712,493,000 after purchasing an additional 68,405 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in BlackRock by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,097,524 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $4,200,450,000 after purchasing an additional 93,844 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 3,496,740 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,006,765 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $3,072,787,000 after purchasing an additional 190,188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,390,450 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,450,475,000 after purchasing an additional 26,485 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $912.50, for a total transaction of $9,125,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 66,034 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $60,256,025. The trade was a 13.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.98% of the company's stock.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:BLK traded up $5.71 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $1,076.28. The company's stock had a trading volume of 342,684 shares, compared to its average volume of 696,095. The firm has a market cap of $166.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a quick ratio of 4.34, a current ratio of 4.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $773.74 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $979.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $969.29.

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

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th were given a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 5th. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BLK. Citigroup reduced their price objective on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Argus raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,028.00 to $1,090.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on BlackRock from $994.00 to $1,115.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. UBS Group cut their price target on BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $1,110.92.

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.