Sarasin & Partners LLP Sells 810 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Sarasin & Partners LLP lowered its position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 239,888 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 810 shares during the quarter. BlackRock accounts for about 2.7% of Sarasin & Partners LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Sarasin & Partners LLP owned approximately 0.15% of BlackRock worth $230,667,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 23.1% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,575 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,615,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 1,052 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. purchased a new position in BlackRock in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $259,000. Nebula Research & Development LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $548,000. Finally, Osterweis Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $98,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $1,128.98 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 4.09, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $917.39 and a 12-month high of $1,219.94. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $1,037.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $1,041.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $174.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.42.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released 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. The company had revenue of $7.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.73 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.01% and a net margin of 24.09%.The firm’s revenue was up 30.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $12.05 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 55.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $5.73 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 54.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on BLK shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,250.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,238.00 to $1,105.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and set a $1,258.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,383.00 to $1,488.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded BlackRock from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,304.29.

BlackRock News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock is promoting model portfolios as a way to bring private-market funds to affluent individual investors. Wider distribution could increase fee-generating assets and strengthen BlackRock’s position in alternatives. Wall Street touts outsourced allocation ploy in bid to market private funds to individuals
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock is expanding blockchain-based products, including tokenized European money-market funds through JPMorgan’s Kinexys platform. The initiative supports long-term growth in digital assets and institutional liquidity products. BlackRock brings tokenized money market funds to Europe via JPMorgan
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock is among the validators for Circle’s planned Arc blockchain and intends to deploy its BUIDL digital liquidity fund on the network. The relationship could help accelerate adoption of tokenized securities and reinforce BlackRock’s digital-asset leadership. Blueprint for a Banking Fortress: Circle Redraws the Map
• Neutral Sentiment: BlackRock will conduct a one-for-three reverse split of its iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA). The action raises the per-share price but does not change investors’ proportional ownership or the fund’s underlying value. BlackRock’s Ethereum ETF To Undergo 1-For-3 Reverse Split
• Negative Sentiment: BlackRock TCP Capital Corp. (NASDAQ: TCPC), an affiliated business-development company, is transferring approximately $523 million of loans—nearly half of its debt investments—to a Pantheon-backed fund while cutting leverage and reviewing strategic options. The move may reduce risk, but the scale of the restructuring highlights stress in private credit and could weigh on sentiment toward BlackRock’s alternatives platform. BlackRock Offloads $523 Million in Loans to Rescue Troubled Private Credit Fund

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.