BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Shares Purchased by Sovereign Financial Group Inc.

Sovereign Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 24.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 326 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the period. Sovereign Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $309,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in BLK. XML Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.6% in the second quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 473 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $372,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 226 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $177,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 1.3% in the second quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $822,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 311 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $243,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tortoise Investment Management LLC increased its stake in BlackRock by 17.1% during the second quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 89 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $774.00 to $864.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $920.00 to $930.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. UBS Group cut their price objective on BlackRock from $842.00 to $837.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $912.00 to $937.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $948.93.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.8 %

NYSE:BLK opened at $956.61 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 5.06, a current ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $596.18 and a 12-month high of $962.95. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $893.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $828.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $142.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.30.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $10.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.96 by $0.40. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.44% and a net margin of 32.36%. The company had revenue of $4.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $9.28 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.37 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were issued a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director Pamela Daley sold 1,531 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $842.08, for a total value of $1,289,224.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,732 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,826,802.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 27,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $834.42, for a total transaction of $22,529,340.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,407,041.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Pamela Daley sold 1,531 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $842.08, for a total value of $1,289,224.48. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,732 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,826,802.56. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 93,042 shares of company stock valued at $79,387,117. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company 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.