United Services Automobile Association Takes Position in BlackRock $BLK

United Services Automobile Association acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,294 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $3,118,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Fairway Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 76.5% during the 1st quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Investment Management Corp VA ADV bought a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Cheviot Value Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock in the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in BlackRock during the 1st quarter worth approximately $34,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $1,099.21 on Monday. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $773.74 and a 1 year high of $1,171.89. The company has a market capitalization of $170.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.45. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,110.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1,002.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 4.04 and a quick ratio of 4.04.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.41 by $1.64. The company had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.40 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.53% and a net margin of 29.68%.During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $10.36 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.39%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on BLK shares. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $980.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on BlackRock from $959.00 to $1,210.00 in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded BlackRock to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,154.07.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 14,828 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,122.28, for a total transaction of $16,641,167.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 263,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $296,002,472.28. This trade represents a 5.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,122.81, for a total transaction of $4,978,539.54. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,506 shares in the company, valued at $3,936,571.86. The trade was a 55.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573. 1.98% of the stock is owned by insiders.

BlackRock Company 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.