AG2R LA Mondiale Gestion D Actifs Purchases New Position in BlackRock $BLK

AG2R LA Mondiale Gestion D Actifs purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 5,443 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $5,334,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BLK. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 23.1% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,575 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,615,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 1,052 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,078,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth about $216,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 27,841 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,561,000 after buying an additional 4,079 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 14,343 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $14,703,000 after buying an additional 232 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, Director Rachel Lord sold 18,036 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,125.60, for a total transaction of $20,301,321.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 19,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,617,148. This represents a 48.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director owned 3,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,936,571.86. The trade was a 55.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573 over the last ninety days. 1.98% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Argus reissued a “buy” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,180.00 to $1,170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,018.00 to $1,093.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $959.00 to $1,210.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,154.07.

BlackRock Stock Up 2.9%

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $1,134.72 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $175.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.45. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $1,114.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $1,005.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a current ratio of 4.04. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $773.74 and a 52-week high of $1,171.89.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.41 by $1.64. The company had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.40 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 29.68% and a return on equity of 15.53%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $10.36 earnings per share. Analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 50.39%.

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.