BlackRock $BLK Shares Purchased by Royal London Asset Management Ltd.

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 123,026 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 688 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $131,680,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Shum Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in BlackRock by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Shum Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,183 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,336,000 after buying an additional 9 shares during the last quarter. First Bancorp Inc ME increased its position in BlackRock by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. First Bancorp Inc ME now owns 321 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $344,000 after acquiring an additional 9 shares during the period. Rather & Kittrell Inc. raised its stake in BlackRock by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Rather & Kittrell Inc. now owns 430 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $461,000 after acquiring an additional 9 shares in the last quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 755 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $808,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares during the period. Finally, Tortoise Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 23.8% during the 3rd quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 52 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on BLK. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,368.00 to $1,393.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,269.00 to $1,128.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Evercore decreased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,140.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,290.00 to $1,310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,264.61.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 33,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,050.55, for a total value of $35,613,645.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 230,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $242,168,583.80. This trade represents a 12.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, President Robert Kapito sold 8,739 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,056.60, for a total transaction of $9,233,627.40. Following the transaction, the president directly owned 210,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $222,082,527.60. The trade was a 3.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 1.92% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

BlackRock News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Negative Sentiment: BlackRock’s private-credit funds saw redemption requests far above the cap, and the firm is again limiting withdrawals, which could weigh on sentiment around its alternatives business. Reuters article
• Negative Sentiment: Bloomberg and other reports said BlackRock’s HPS/HLEND private-credit vehicles capped redemptions after investors sought to withdraw more than 5%, underscoring continued pressure in the funds. Bloomberg article
• Neutral Sentiment: BlackRock also reported buying additional Bitcoin and Ethereum holdings, and it is preparing an income-focused Bitcoin ETF, highlighting continued growth in its digital-asset franchise. Finbold article
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports that BlackRock may seek about $5 billion of SpaceX IPO shares point to strong client demand and product breadth, but this is not as immediate a driver as the redemption headlines. Reuters article

BlackRock Price Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $1,031.45 on Friday. BlackRock has a twelve month low of $917.39 and a twelve month high of $1,219.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a current ratio of 4.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $160.11 billion, a PE ratio of 25.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.42. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,039.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1,051.37.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 14th. The asset manager reported $12.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $12.40 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $6.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.56 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 24.40% and a return on equity of 14.74%. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $9.64 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 52.8 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $5.73 per share. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.53%.

BlackRock Company Profile

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.