Hardy Reed LLC Invests $2.29 Million in BlackRock $BLK

Hardy Reed LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 2,386 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $2,294,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rather & Kittrell Inc. lifted its stake in BlackRock by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Rather & Kittrell Inc. now owns 430 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $461,000 after buying an additional 9 shares during the period. Oakworth Capital Inc. boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 755 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $808,000 after buying an additional 9 shares during the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 212 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $227,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the period. Manske Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Manske Wealth Management now owns 345 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $369,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 230 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $246,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on BLK shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of BlackRock from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $1,165.00 to $1,364.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,340.00 to $1,450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,270.00 to $1,320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,250.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,260.00 price target on shares of BlackRock in a report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $1,311.06.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $1,172.20 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,053.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1,043.07. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $917.39 and a 52-week high of $1,219.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 3.59 and a current ratio of 3.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $181.54 billion, a PE ratio of 28.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.42.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its 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 net margin of 24.09% and a return on equity of 14.90%. The firm had revenue of $7.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.73 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $12.05 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 30.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that BlackRock will post 55.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

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

About BlackRock

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.