Syntax Research Inc. Purchases 34 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Syntax Research Inc. boosted its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 7.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 480 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the quarter. Syntax Research Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $504,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in BlackRock by 2.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 387,466 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position 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 worth $1,243,059,000 after buying an additional 555,098 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 10.2% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,206,935 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,142,340,000 after buying an additional 111,694 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position 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 worth $1,071,339,000 after buying an additional 279,336 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in BlackRock by 13.2% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 932,899 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $882,970,000 after acquiring an additional 108,473 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, 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 transaction of $20,301,321.60. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 19,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,617,148. The trade was a 48.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 value of $16,641,167.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 263,751 shares in the company, valued at $296,002,472.28. The trade was a 5.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573 over the last 90 days. 1.98% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of BLK opened at $1,160.23 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $179.66 billion, a PE ratio of 28.05, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.45. BlackRock has a 12 month low of $773.74 and a 12 month high of $1,183.50. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $1,128.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1,026.28. The company has a current ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.41 by $1.64. The firm had revenue of $5.42 billion for 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%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $10.36 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on BLK. Argus reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Citigroup increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Zacks Research lowered BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on BlackRock from $1,180.00 to $1,170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $1,115.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,194.86.

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.