NFJ Investment Group LLC Has $26.32 Million Stock Position in BlackRock $BLK

NFJ Investment Group LLC decreased its stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 21.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 24,586 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 6,729 shares during the period. NFJ Investment Group LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $26,315,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,062,677 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $15,051,846,000 after acquiring an additional 221,123 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,264,545 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,705,193,000 after acquiring an additional 33,752 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,838,937 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,108,968,000 after acquiring an additional 12,019 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,167,460 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,374,394,000 after acquiring an additional 27,640 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,742,680,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, President Robert Kapito sold 8,739 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the president directly owned 210,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $222,082,527.60. This trade represents a 3.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 33,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,050.55, for a total value of $35,613,645.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 230,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $242,168,583.80. This represents a 12.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 1.92% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $1,031.45 on Friday. 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 company has a market cap of $160.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.42. BlackRock has a twelve month low of $917.39 and a twelve month high of $1,219.94. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,039.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1,051.37.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 14th. The asset manager reported $12.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $12.40 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $6.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.56 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 24.40%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $9.64 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 52.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a $5.73 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 57.53%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Barclays upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,290.00 to $1,310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,269.00 to $1,128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 13th. UBS Group upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,235.00 to $1,270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,181.00 to $1,313.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,264.61.

Key BlackRock News

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Negative Sentiment: BlackRock’s private-credit funds saw redemption requests far above the cap, and the firm is again limiting withdrawals, which could weigh on sentiment around its alternatives business. Reuters article
• Negative Sentiment: Bloomberg and other reports said BlackRock’s HPS/HLEND private-credit vehicles capped redemptions after investors sought to withdraw more than 5%, underscoring continued pressure in the funds. Bloomberg article
• Neutral Sentiment: BlackRock also reported buying additional Bitcoin and Ethereum holdings, and it is preparing an income-focused Bitcoin ETF, highlighting continued growth in its digital-asset franchise. Finbold article
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports that BlackRock may seek about $5 billion of SpaceX IPO shares point to strong client demand and product breadth, but this is not as immediate a driver as the redemption headlines. Reuters article

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.