River Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires 645 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

River Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 10.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,838 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 645 shares during the quarter. River Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $7,174,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in BlackRock in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,644,007,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 105,267.4% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,705,899 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,789,915,000 after acquiring an additional 1,704,280 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in BlackRock by 72.5% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,005,358 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,104,122,000 after acquiring an additional 842,901 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in BlackRock by 73.2% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,313,350 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,243,059,000 after purchasing an additional 555,098 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in BlackRock by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,764,072 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,027,419,000 after purchasing an additional 387,466 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of BLK stock opened at $1,038.79 on Wednesday. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $773.74 and a 52-week high of $1,219.94. The stock has a market cap of $161.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.71, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.47. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $1,104.15 and its 200-day moving average is $1,083.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 3.33 and a current 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 for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.78 by ($0.23). BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.80% and a net margin of 26.64%.The business had revenue of $6.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.22 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $11.46 EPS. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.59%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on BLK shares. Bank of America boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,394.00 to $1,456.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on BlackRock from $1,372.00 to $1,313.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Monday. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,301.00 to $1,407.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,302.59.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of BlackRock 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 7,205 shares of the company’s stock, 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 SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.