Strong Tower Advisory Services Grows Holdings in BlackRock $BLK

Strong Tower Advisory Services increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,380 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 107 shares during the quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services’ holdings in BlackRock were worth $3,546,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Fairway Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 13 shares during the period. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Garde Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 18 shares during the period. Cheviot Value Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock in the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on BLK. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,160.00 to $1,265.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday, October 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $1,280.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,252.00 to $1,301.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,258.56.

BlackRock Stock Down 3.0%

BLK stock opened at $1,132.12 on Friday. BlackRock has a twelve month low of $773.74 and a twelve month high of $1,184.13. The company has a current ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a market capitalization of $175.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.37, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.45. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,134.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1,034.64.

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

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $19,207,611.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 61,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,763,964.50. This trade represents a 21.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of BlackRock 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573 over the last three months. 1.98% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.