Bank of Montreal Can Buys 5,654 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 1.8% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 320,717 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,654 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $257,176,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Evergreen Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 8,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,430,000 after purchasing an additional 519 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 23,697 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $18,657,000 after acquiring an additional 1,615 shares during the last quarter. Harmony Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. Harmony Asset Management LLC now owns 2,689 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,117,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 698.2% in the 2nd quarter. DRW Securities LLC now owns 2,235 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,759,000 after acquiring an additional 1,955 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 482 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $379,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.7 %

BlackRock stock opened at $928.79 on Monday. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $596.18 and a twelve month high of $942.73. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $868.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $817.80. The company has a market capitalization of $138.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.30. 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 (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $10.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.96 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $4.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.85 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.36% and a return on equity of 15.44%. The company’s revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $9.28 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.34 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

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 issued a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Pamela Daley sold 1,531 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Pamela Daley sold 1,531 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 27,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,407,041.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 93,042 shares of company stock valued at $79,387,117. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BLK. Barclays upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $985.00 to $990.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $920.00 to $945.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Argus increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $880.00 to $910.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $915.00 to $934.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $902.13.

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.