Vantage Wealth Acquires New Holdings in BlackRock $BLK

Key Points

• Vantage Wealth acquired a new stake in BlackRock, purchasing 19,070 shares valued at approximately $20 million, which constitutes about 4.5% of its total portfolio.
• CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of BlackRock for over $13.5 million, resulting in a 4.57% decrease in his ownership, while insider selling totaled 66,494 shares worth nearly $74.7 million in the last quarter.
• Analysts have mixed views on BlackRock, with JPMorgan raising its target price to $1,093 and Morgan Stanley lowering theirs to $1,224, leading to an average target price of $1,154.07, indicating a generally positive sentiment.

Vantage Wealth purchased a new stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 19,070 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $20,009,000. BlackRock accounts for about 4.5% of Vantage Wealth's investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BLK. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 104,598.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,500,083 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $3,312,759,000 after purchasing an additional 3,496,740 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 73.2% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,313,350 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,243,059,000 after purchasing an additional 555,098 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,764,072 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $13,027,419,000 after purchasing an additional 387,466 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 32.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,131,919 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,071,339,000 after purchasing an additional 279,336 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $225,481,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,214.00 to $1,224.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $980.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Zacks Research cut shares of BlackRock from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,018.00 to $1,093.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $1,115.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,154.07.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 251,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $283,267,354.71. This represents a 4.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,120.50, for a total transaction of $19,207,611.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 61,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,763,964.50. This represents a 21.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573. Insiders own 1.98% of the company's stock.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE BLK traded down $6.59 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $1,129.62. 209,514 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 727,091. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $773.74 and a 12-month 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. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $1,120.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $1,014.87. The firm has a market cap of $174.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.45.

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 (EPS) 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 15.53%. The company had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.40 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $10.36 earnings per share. BlackRock's quarterly revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect 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 will be paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. BlackRock's payout ratio is presently 50.39%.

BlackRock Company 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.