3,372 Shares in BlackRock $BLK Purchased by Banco de Sabadell S.A

Banco de Sabadell S.A bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 3,372 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $3,535,000. BlackRock makes up about 2.4% of Banco de Sabadell S.A’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BLK. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in BlackRock by 1.7% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,991,264 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $14,680,334,000 after acquiring an additional 227,192 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,143,429 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,281,641,000 after purchasing an additional 34,049 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in BlackRock during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,644,007,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 72.5% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,005,358 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,104,122,000 after acquiring an additional 842,901 shares during the period. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 105,267.4% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,705,899 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,789,915,000 after purchasing an additional 1,704,280 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on BLK shares. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,372.00 to $1,313.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,160.00 to $1,265.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Zacks Research cut BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,280.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,302.59.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, CFO Martin Small sold 1,258 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,043.38, for a total value of $1,312,572.04. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 6,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,478,346.42. This represents a 16.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,165.04, for a total value of $13,980,480.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 7,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,394,113.20. The trade was a 62.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $1,071.87 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $166.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.56, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.47. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $1,100.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $1,084.42. BlackRock has a one year low of $773.74 and a one year high of $1,219.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 3.33 and a current ratio of 3.33.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $11.78 by ($0.23). The business had revenue of $6.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.22 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 26.64% and a return on equity of 14.80%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $11.46 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 53.59%.

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.