FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH Has $464,000 Holdings in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH lessened its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 9.8% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 589 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 64 shares during the quarter. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $464,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in BlackRock by 2.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,182,262 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,990,052,000 after acquiring an additional 292,017 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 11.1% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,354,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,630,127,000 after buying an additional 435,358 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 57.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,514,999 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,853,517,000 after buying an additional 1,279,952 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 2,471,621 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,006,490,000 after buying an additional 58,681 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,812,920,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 27,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $834.42, for a total value of $22,529,340.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,407,041.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 27,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $834.42, for a total value of $22,529,340.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,407,041.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Pamela Daley sold 1,531 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $842.08, for a total value of $1,289,224.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,732 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,826,802.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 93,042 shares of company stock worth $79,387,117. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $877.94 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $130.05 billion, a PE ratio of 22.31, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.30. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $850.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $812.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.06 and a quick ratio of 5.06. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $596.18 and a 1 year high of $903.46.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $10.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.96 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $4.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.85 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.44% and a net margin of 32.36%. The business’s revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $9.28 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.34 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on BLK shares. Argus lifted their target price on BlackRock from $880.00 to $910.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. UBS Group cut their target price on BlackRock from $842.00 to $837.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,025.00 to $1,013.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Barclays lifted their target price on BlackRock from $985.00 to $990.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on BlackRock from $920.00 to $930.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $883.47.

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.