Rydar Equities Inc. Acquires New Holdings in BlackRock $BLK

Rydar Equities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 701 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $735,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Westerkirk Capital Inc. bought a new position in BlackRock in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,877,000. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey increased its position in 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 acquiring an additional 1,693 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its position in BlackRock by 8.2% in the 2nd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 256,937 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $269,591,000 after acquiring an additional 19,404 shares during the period. Opus Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the first quarter valued at $1,420,000. Finally, Ally Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the first quarter worth $1,893,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $1,088.99 on Monday. BlackRock has a one year low of $773.74 and a one year high of $1,219.94. The company has a market cap of $168.96 billion, a PE ratio of 28.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.47. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $1,092.11 and a 200-day moving average of $1,089.13. 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 announced its quarterly 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 the consensus estimate of $6.22 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.80% and a net margin of 26.64%.The firm’s revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $11.46 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th will be given a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.59%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on BLK shares. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on BlackRock from $1,312.00 to $1,305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Bank of America upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,456.00 to $1,464.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,093.00 to $1,242.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,313.65.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 transaction of $13,980,480.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 7,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,394,113.20. This represents a 62.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Martin Small sold 1,258 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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. This trade represents a 16.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

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.