PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Buys 29,449 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 360,995 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 29,449 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. owned about 0.23% of BlackRock worth $420,873,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Pacifica Partners Inc. raised its holdings in BlackRock by 450.0% in the third quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 22 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. TruNorth Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 1,000.0% in the 3rd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 22 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Traub Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 107.1% during the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 29 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hopwood Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 866.7% during the third quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. now owns 29 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $1,071.59 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $166.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.25, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.47. BlackRock has a 12 month low of $773.74 and a 12 month high of $1,219.94. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,093.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1,105.72. The company has a current ratio of 3.33, a quick ratio of 3.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $13.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $12.55 by $0.61. BlackRock had a net margin of 22.93% and a return on equity of 15.14%. The firm had revenue of $6.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $11.93 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $5.73 per share. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 58.84%.

Trending Headlines about BlackRock

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock formally expanded into DeFi by listing its tokenized Treasury fund (BUIDL) on Uniswap and enabling on?chain trading — a strategic move that broadens distribution channels for BlackRock’s digital?asset products and could support future fee/AUM growth. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Income and earnings fundamentals: company reporting and corporate actions (recent EPS beat and an increased quarterly dividend to $5.73) provide support for income?oriented investors and justify parts of the stock’s elevated multiple. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: 13F / portfolio moves: recent SEC filings show large BlackRock fund repositioning (additions to IVV, MSFT, GOOGL, AMZN and new sizable positions in tickers like Q, SOLS, LXP) — signals scale and active management but are informational about fund flows rather than an immediate BLK earnings driver. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Routine ownership disclosures: filings around a ~5% voting stake in BAWAG Group were posted — standard large?investor activity with limited direct impact on BlackRock’s core management fees. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: COO Robert Goldstein executed sizeable open?market sales (Feb. 10–11; Form 4 filed). Large insider sales can weigh on near?term sentiment even when they’re for diversification or tax planning. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Reported private?credit loss: a WSJ report about a ~$400M loss linked to fake invoices in a BlackRock unit highlights execution and due?diligence risk in private markets and can pressure the multiple investors assign to alternatives. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Crypto headwinds: weakening crypto prices, ETF outflows and reports that some BlackRock crypto portfolios have trimmed BTC/ETH exposure could limit near?term AUM and fee growth from digital?asset offerings despite the Uniswap announcement. Read More.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen downgraded BlackRock from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $1,351.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Friday, January 16th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,300.00 to $1,250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BlackRock from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,311.11.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,087.29, for a total transaction of $58,920,245.10. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 51,478 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,971,514.62. The trade was a 51.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,125.00, for a total value of $22,500,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,630,750. The trade was a 24.42% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 109,967 shares of company stock worth $122,487,380 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

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.