BlackRock $BLK Position Boosted by PB Investment Partners L.P.

PB Investment Partners L.P. grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 5.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 14,221 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 692 shares during the period. BlackRock accounts for 9.7% of PB Investment Partners L.P.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. PB Investment Partners L.P.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $15,221,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Birchbrook Inc. purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Basepoint Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Swiss RE Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, President Robert Kapito sold 8,739 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the president directly owned 210,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $222,082,527.60. The trade was a 3.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 33,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,050.55, for a total value of $35,613,645.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 230,516 shares in the company, valued at $242,168,583.80. This trade represents a 12.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 1.92% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock News Roundup

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

BlackRock Trading Down 0.1%

BlackRock stock opened at $1,031.45 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 4.09, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $1,039.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $1,051.60. BlackRock has a 12 month low of $917.39 and a 12 month high of $1,219.94. The company has a market capitalization of $160.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.42.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 14th. The asset manager reported $12.53 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 the consensus estimate of $6.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $9.64 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that BlackRock will post 52.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on BLK. UBS Group lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,235.00 to $1,270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,368.00 to $1,393.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded BlackRock from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. One investment 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,264.61.

BlackRock 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.