Pictet North America Advisors SA Raises Position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Pictet North America Advisors SA boosted its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 6.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 760 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 49 shares during the quarter. Pictet North America Advisors SA’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $722,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of BLK. Marino Stram & Associates LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 0.3% in the third quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 3,399 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,227,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 3.5% in the third quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 328 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $312,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. XML Financial LLC increased its stake in BlackRock by 2.6% during the second quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 473 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $372,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 937 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $890,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares during the period. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 226 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $177,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BLK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Argus increased their price objective on BlackRock from $880.00 to $910.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $912.00 to $937.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $915.00 to $934.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on BlackRock in a research note on Sunday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $995.31.

BlackRock Price Performance

NYSE:BLK opened at $1,000.64 on Wednesday. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $596.18 and a 52 week high of $1,032.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $921.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $840.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $148.70 billion, a PE ratio of 25.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.30.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.42 by $1.04. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.36% and a return on equity of 15.44%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $10.91 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 29,450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 353,718 shares in the company, valued at $298,272,703.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other BlackRock 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 5,732 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,826,802.56. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 29,450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were 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. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 66,042 shares of company stock worth $56,857,777. 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.