Michael S. Ryan Inc. Purchases 16 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Michael S. Ryan Inc. increased its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 520 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 16 shares during the quarter. Michael S. Ryan Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $546,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 104,598.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,500,083 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,312,759,000 after acquiring an additional 3,496,740 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 401.5% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,095,241 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,122,743,000 after acquiring an additional 876,836 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 73.2% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,313,350 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,243,059,000 after acquiring an additional 555,098 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 2.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,764,072 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $13,027,419,000 after acquiring an additional 387,466 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 32.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,131,919 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,071,339,000 after acquiring an additional 279,336 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $1,124.34 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $1,115.88 and a 200-day moving average of $1,007.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a current ratio of 4.04. The firm has a market cap of $174.10 billion, a PE ratio of 27.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.45. BlackRock has a twelve month low of $773.74 and a twelve month high of $1,171.89.

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

BlackRock Announces Dividend

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 given a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.39%.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,125.43, for a total value of $13,565,933.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 251,697 shares in the company, valued at $283,267,354.71. This trade represents a 4.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 18,036 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,125.60, for a total value of $20,301,321.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 19,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,617,148. The trade was a 48.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on BLK shares. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Wall Street Zen raised BlackRock to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,018.00 to $1,093.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,154.07.

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.