Van ECK Associates Corp Sells 679 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Van ECK Associates Corp lowered its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 2.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 31,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 679 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $24,548,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Northwest Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Lam Group Inc. bought a new stake in BlackRock in the first quarter valued at about $33,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on BlackRock from $912.00 to $937.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on BlackRock from $842.00 to $837.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $915.00 to $934.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $920.00 to $930.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $985.00 price objective on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $881.47.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total value of $10,800,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,832,000. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total transaction of $10,800,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,832,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 29,450 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $843.25, for a total value of $24,833,712.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 353,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $298,272,703.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 93,042 shares of company stock valued at $79,387,117. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.8 %

BlackRock stock traded up $6.94 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $901.81. 478,238 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 473,496. The firm has a market capitalization of $133.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.92, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a current ratio of 5.06. BlackRock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $596.18 and a fifty-two week high of $903.46. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $839.20 and its 200-day moving average is $808.74.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $10.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.96 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $4.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.85 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.36% and a return on equity of 15.44%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $9.28 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.34 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.26%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.84%.

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.