Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Has $93.87 Million Stake in BlackRock $BLK

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 224.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 87,704 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 60,675 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $93,873,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Birchbrook Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 866.7% in the 3rd quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. now owns 29 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the period. Collier Financial acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on BLK. Barclays lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,290.00 to $1,310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Freedom Capital raised BlackRock from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on BlackRock from $1,269.00 to $1,128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on BlackRock from $1,351.00 to $1,199.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,181.00 to $1,313.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,269.06.

Key BlackRock News

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock’s GIP unit is teaming with Temasek and Abu Dhabi-linked investors to target up to $30 billion in infrastructure deals, a sign that the firm continues to expand its alternative-investments platform and fee-earning asset base. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan increased its holdings of BlackRock’s IBIT Bitcoin ETF by 174%, reinforcing institutional demand for BlackRock’s crypto-linked products and supporting the company’s ETF growth story. Cointelegraph article
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock is also being highlighted for income-focused ETF demand, with several high-yield iShares funds offering yields above 6%, which may keep assets flowing into its ETF franchise. TipRanks article

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 33,900 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,050.55, for a total transaction of $35,613,645.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 230,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $242,168,583.80. The trade was a 12.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, President Robert Kapito sold 8,739 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,056.60, for a total value of $9,233,627.40. Following the transaction, the president owned 210,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $222,082,527.60. This represents a 3.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 45,249 shares of company stock valued at $47,671,714 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.92% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Down 2.0%

NYSE:BLK opened at $1,081.49 on Friday. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $917.39 and a 12-month high of $1,219.94. The company has a quick ratio of 4.09, a current ratio of 4.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $167.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.44. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $1,009.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1,055.57.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 24.40%.The business had revenue of $6.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.56 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $9.64 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that BlackRock will post 52.77 earnings per share for the current year.

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.