American National Bank & Trust Co. VA Invests $1.08 Million in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

American National Bank & Trust Co. VA acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,293 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $1,078,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 177.7% during the 3rd quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,613 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,336,000 after acquiring an additional 2,312 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in BlackRock by 9.5% in the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 7,958 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,145,000 after purchasing an additional 690 shares during the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 0.6% in the third quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 9,923 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,415,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 3.0% in the third quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 766 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $495,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lakeshore Financial Planning Inc. bought a new stake in BlackRock in the third quarter worth $259,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLK has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $915.00 price target on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $844.17.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total value of $7,155,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,151,600. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $807.29, for a total transaction of $25,008,229.62. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 383,168 shares in the company, valued at $309,327,694.72. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total transaction of $7,155,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,151,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.0 %

BLK traded down $0.01 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $789.12. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 250,799 shares, compared to its average volume of 506,332. The firm has a market capitalization of $117.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.05, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a current ratio of 5.32, a quick ratio of 5.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $596.18 and a 1 year high of $845.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $780.75 and its 200-day moving average is $792.72.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.42 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.24%. The business’s revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $7.93 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.25 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.59%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.84%.

BlackRock 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.