SWS Partners Invests $2.67 Million in BlackRock $BLK

SWS Partners acquired a new stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 2,776 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $2,670,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 5,190.3% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,490,422 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,876,618,000 after buying an additional 5,386,640 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $2,742,680,000. Oak Harvest Investment Services boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 12,176.1% during the 4th quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services now owns 1,595,153 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,707,356,000 after acquiring an additional 1,582,159 shares in the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 106,934.0% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 1,284,408 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $128,441,000 after acquiring an additional 1,283,208 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 200.5% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,451,122 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,553,194,000 after acquiring an additional 968,245 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $1,172.20 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $181.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.02, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.42. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $1,053.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $1,043.07. The company has a quick ratio of 3.59, a current ratio of 3.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. BlackRock has a twelve month low of $917.39 and a twelve month high of $1,219.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $13.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $12.69 by $1.22. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.90% and a net margin of 24.09%.The company had revenue of $7.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $12.05 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that BlackRock will post 55.63 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be paid a $5.73 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.78%.

BlackRock News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AI infrastructure financing could create a major growth opportunity. BlackRock is among the financial firms working with Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) and other partners to mobilize more than $500 billion for data centers, GPUs and related infrastructure. The initiative could generate fees from asset management, private credit and structured-finance products while broadening BlackRock’s role beyond traditional investing. NVIDIA’s $500 Billion GPU Financing Deal Fuels Path Toward $270
• Positive Sentiment: Scale and asset growth remain key strengths. Reports highlight approximately $15.3 trillion in assets under management, a 22% year-over-year AUM increase and improving profit margins. Continued growth in higher-margin ETFs and other products could support earnings and long-term shareholder returns. Larry Fink’s BlackRock Just Crossed $15.3 Trillion in Assets
• Neutral Sentiment: BlackRock-affiliated investors reportedly sold more than $16 million of Bitcoin and Ethereum, while Dartmouth’s holdings in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin ETF and other crypto ETFs declined in value. The developments reflect weaker crypto prices and could signal modest pressure on digital-asset flows, but they do not represent a direct sale of BlackRock’s corporate holdings. BlackRock ends the week dumping millions worth of these 2 cryptocurrencies
• Negative Sentiment: Competition is intensifying in ETFs. Corgi Invest plans to challenge BlackRock with a broad, low-fee lineup, while Goldman Sachs’ planned acquisition of NEOS would strengthen a rival Bitcoin income ETF platform.
• Negative Sentiment: Rosen Law Firm is investigating possible securities claims involving BlackRock mutual funds. The announcement is only an investigation—not a filed finding of wrongdoing—but it adds reputational and legal uncertainty. Rosen investor rights investigation

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,340.00 to $1,450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Zacks Research upgraded BlackRock from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,300.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,260.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Monday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $1,389.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $1,311.06.

BlackRock 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.