Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC Increases Stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 6.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 842 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the quarter. Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $702,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BLK. Abacus Planning Group Inc. boosted its stake in BlackRock by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 334 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $271,000 after buying an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 48.1% in the 4th quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 450 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $365,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Spreng Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Spreng Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,329 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,079,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Finally, Magellan Asset Management Ltd raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 404 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $328,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE BLK traded up $9.72 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $812.00. 517,227 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 597,926. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $596.18 and a 1 year high of $845.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $120.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.56, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a quick ratio of 5.32, a current ratio of 5.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The business has a 50 day moving average of $783.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $792.55.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.42 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.24% and a net margin of 32.26%. BlackRock’s revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $7.93 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were given a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.51%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 51.84%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total value of $7,155,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,151,600. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $807.29, for a total transaction of $25,008,229.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 383,168 shares in the company, valued at approximately $309,327,694.72. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total value of $7,155,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,151,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. TD Cowen cut their price objective on BlackRock from $974.00 to $969.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. UBS Group cut their price objective on BlackRock from $842.00 to $837.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $915.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $845.67.

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.