BlackRock $BLK Shares Sold by Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc.

Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. lessened its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 903 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 53 shares during the period. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $948,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Garde Capital Inc. increased its position in BlackRock by 200.0% during the 2nd quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 27 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Fairway Wealth LLC increased its position in 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 during the period. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 100.0% during the 1st quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock during the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Cheviot Value Management LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock during the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 251,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $283,267,354.71. This represents a 4.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,120.50, for a total value of $19,207,611.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 61,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,763,964.50. The trade was a 21.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLK has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $1,115.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,093.00 to $1,242.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,194.86.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BLK opened at $1,160.23 on Friday. BlackRock has a 1-year low of $773.74 and a 1-year high of $1,183.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 4.04 and a quick ratio of 4.04. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $1,128.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1,026.28. The stock has a market cap of $179.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.45.

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

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.39%.

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.