Cetera Advisors LLC Purchases 5,840 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 89.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,374 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 5,840 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $10,316,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in BlackRock by 219.5% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 44,065 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $36,737,000 after buying an additional 30,274 shares in the last quarter. Invst LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 7.3% in the first quarter. Invst LLC now owns 2,229 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,843,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. PGGM Investments grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 204.2% in the first quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 4,095 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,414,000 after acquiring an additional 2,749 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the first quarter valued at approximately $86,282,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the first quarter valued at approximately $70,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on BLK. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on BlackRock from $910.00 to $920.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on BlackRock from $924.00 to $912.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on BlackRock from $915.00 to $934.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,025.00 to $1,013.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price objective on BlackRock from $974.00 to $969.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $872.29.

BlackRock Trading Down 2.2 %

NYSE:BLK opened at $846.02 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $125.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.32. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $802.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $798.08. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $596.18 and a 1 year high of $885.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 5.32 and a quick ratio of 5.32.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $10.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.96 by $0.40. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.53% and a net margin of 32.36%. The company had revenue of $4.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $9.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.23 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.41%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,151,600. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $807.29, for a total value of $25,008,229.62. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 383,168 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $309,327,694.72. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,151,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 66,978 shares of company stock worth $54,692,570. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.