Park National Corp OH Sells 437 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Park National Corp OH lowered its stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 1.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,194 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 437 shares during the period. Park National Corp OH’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $32,730,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in BlackRock by 104,598.9% in the 1st 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 raised its stake in BlackRock by 401.5% in the 4th 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 grew its holdings in BlackRock by 73.2% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,313,350 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,243,059,000 after buying an additional 555,098 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in BlackRock by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,764,072 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $13,027,419,000 after buying an additional 387,466 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in BlackRock by 32.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,131,919 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,071,339,000 after buying an additional 279,336 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on BLK. Bank of America upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,214.00 to $1,224.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price 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. Zacks Research lowered BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,154.07.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of BLK stock opened at $1,124.34 on Friday. 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 fifty-two week low of $773.74 and a fifty-two week high of $1,171.89. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,115.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1,007.01. The company has a market cap of $174.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.18, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.45.

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

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,125.43, for a total transaction of $13,565,933.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 251,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $283,267,354.71. The trade was a 4.57% decrease in their position. The transaction 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 business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,122.81, for a total value of $4,978,539.54. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573. 1.98% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.