GSA Capital Partners LLP Takes Position in BlackRock $BLK

GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 820 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $878,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 866.7% in the 3rd quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. now owns 29 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Birchbrook Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Collier Financial acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, President Robert Kapito sold 8,739 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,056.60, for a total transaction of $9,233,627.40. Following the completion of the sale, the president owned 210,186 shares in the company, valued at $222,082,527.60. The trade was a 3.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Stephen Cohen sold 225 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,069.56, for a total transaction of $240,651.00. Following the sale, the director owned 5,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,054,779.16. This represents a 3.82% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 45,249 shares of company stock worth $47,671,714 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.92% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $1,073.03 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,018.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1,054.00. The company has a quick ratio of 4.09, a current ratio of 4.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $917.39 and a 12-month high of $1,219.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $166.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.44.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 14th. The asset manager reported $12.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $12.40 by $0.13. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 24.40%.The business had revenue of $6.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $9.64 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 52.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a $5.73 dividend. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on BLK. CICC Research boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,250.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. UBS Group lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,235.00 to $1,270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,220.00 price target on shares of BlackRock in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Freedom Capital raised BlackRock from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on BlackRock from $1,269.00 to $1,128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,269.06.

About BlackRock

BlackRock, Inc is a global investment management firm that provides a broad range of products and services to institutional, intermediary and individual investors. Its core activities include portfolio management across active and index strategies, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) under the iShares brand, fixed income, equity and multi-asset solutions, as well as alternatives such as private equity, real estate and infrastructure. The firm also offers cash management and liquidity solutions and retirement-focused products designed for defined contribution and defined benefit investors.

In addition to traditional investment management, BlackRock is known for its technology and risk management capabilities, most prominently its Aladdin platform, which combines portfolio management, trading and risk analytics and is used both internally and licensed to external clients.