Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Cuts Stock Position in BlackRock $BLK

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System cut its holdings in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 1.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,700 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $8,079,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock during the second quarter valued at $416,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 13.9% during the 2nd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,959 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,056,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares during the last quarter. 1 North Wealth Services LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. 1 North Wealth Services LLC now owns 2,034 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,134,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Canopy Partners LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Canopy Partners LLC now owns 1,329 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,394,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Shell Asset Management Co. raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 50.1% during the 2nd quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 2,027 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,127,000 after purchasing an additional 677 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLK has been the subject of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $959.00 to $1,210.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on BlackRock in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $1,280.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,093.00 to $1,242.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Argus restated a “buy” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,180.00 to $1,170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,222.87.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Rachel Lord sold 18,036 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 19,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,617,148. This represents a 48.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. 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 90 days. 1.98% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of BLK opened at $1,166.90 on Wednesday. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $773.74 and a 52-week high of $1,184.13. The company has a market capitalization of $180.69 billion, a PE ratio of 28.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.45. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,131.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1,031.25. The company has a quick ratio of 4.04, a current ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.40 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $10.36 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

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