Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC Buys 1,496 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC raised its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 11.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,825 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,496 shares during the period. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $15,555,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Westerkirk Capital Inc. acquired a new position in BlackRock in the 2nd quarter worth $2,877,000. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 23,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $24,308,000 after purchasing an additional 1,693 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 8.2% in the second quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 256,937 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $269,591,000 after purchasing an additional 19,404 shares in the last quarter. Opus Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the first quarter worth about $1,420,000. Finally, Ally Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the first quarter worth about $1,893,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,165.04, for a total value of $13,980,480.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 7,205 shares in the company, valued at $8,394,113.20. The trade was a 62.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Martin Small sold 1,258 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,043.38, for a total transaction of $1,312,572.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 6,209 shares in the company, valued at $6,478,346.42. The trade was a 16.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLK has been the topic of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,280.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,301.00 to $1,407.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Loop Capital set a $1,255.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,362.00 to $1,486.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,313.65.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $1,088.99 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $168.96 billion, a PE ratio of 28.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.47. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $1,092.11 and a 200-day moving average of $1,088.31. BlackRock has a one year low of $773.74 and a one year high of $1,219.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 3.33 and a quick ratio of 3.33.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $11.78 by ($0.23). The firm had revenue of $6.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.22 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 26.64% and a return on equity of 14.80%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $11.46 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 53.59%.

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.