Sarasin & Partners LLP Buys 117,218 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Sarasin & Partners LLP lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 174.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 184,291 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 117,218 shares during the quarter. BlackRock accounts for about 1.3% of Sarasin & Partners LLP’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. Sarasin & Partners LLP owned about 0.12% of BlackRock worth $145,096,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 25.0% during the 4th quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 200 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $163,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $439,000. Zhang Financial LLC boosted its position in BlackRock by 24.0% during the 1st quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 883 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $736,000 after buying an additional 171 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position in BlackRock by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 237,740 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $192,997,000 after buying an additional 1,647 shares during the period. Finally, Farrow Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,228,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 27,000 shares of the company’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 transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,407,041.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 27,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $834.42, for a total value of $22,529,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,407,041.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $807.29, for a total transaction of $25,008,229.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 383,168 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $309,327,694.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 112,020 shares of company stock worth $93,595,347. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of BlackRock stock traded up $0.43 during trading on Friday, reaching $872.49. 395,236 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 601,810. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 5.32 and a quick ratio of 5.32. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $818.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $802.54. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $596.18 and a 1-year high of $885.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $129.65 billion, a PE ratio of 22.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.32.

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

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a dividend of $5.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.34%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 51.84%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on BLK. Citigroup lifted 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. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $842.00 to $837.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $912.00 to $937.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $915.00 to $934.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,025.00 to $1,013.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $874.07.

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.