BlackRock $BLK Shares Acquired by NewEdge Wealth LLC

NewEdge Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 19.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,008 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,478 shares during the quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $9,641,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 866.7% during the 3rd quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. now owns 29 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Collier Financial acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Dogwood Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 94.1% during the 3rd quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 33 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 230,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $242,168,583.80. This represents a 12.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 385 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,084.91, for a total transaction of $417,690.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,335 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,618,174.85. The trade was a 10.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 106,911 shares of company stock worth $114,670,698 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. BNP Paribas Exane upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,290.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of BlackRock from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,368.00 to $1,393.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, CICC Research upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,250.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,269.06.

Key Stories Impacting BlackRock

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock is drawing interest from investors after reports highlighted its new Aladdin private credit features with Preqin, which could strengthen its data and analytics offering in a growing market and support future asset-management revenue. BlackRock (BLK) Valuation Check As New Aladdin Private Credit Features With Preqin Draw Focus
• Positive Sentiment: CEO Larry Fink’s push for clearer crypto and tokenization rules, along with comments that “compute futures” could become a new asset class, reinforces BlackRock’s reputation as an innovation leader in digital assets and next-generation markets. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink Is Demanding Crypto Regulations. Here’s What It Means for Investors.
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock’s ETF franchise continues to be highlighted as a major competitive advantage, with articles pointing to lower fees, scale, and liquidity benefits that could keep supporting inflows into iShares products. BlackRock Touts ETFs as Liquidity Antidote to Private Exposure
• Neutral Sentiment: BlackRock’s philanthropic $30 million Texas workforce initiative may improve brand and public relations, but it is unlikely to move the stock materially in the near term. BlackRock Launches Signature Philanthropic Initiative in Texas with $30M Commitment to Grow Electrical Workforce
• Negative Sentiment: Recent reports that BlackRock cut the value of parts of its private credit portfolio, including markdowns tied to software borrowers, are a reminder that credit risk remains elevated in a softer lending environment. BlackRock cut private credit fund’s value by 5% in first quarter
• Negative Sentiment: News that a BlackRock Asia private credit fund is trying to recover money from a defaulted China loan adds to concerns about underwriting quality and credit performance in the firm’s private markets business. BlackRock Fund Faces Test in Recovering Defaulted China Loan

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $1,083.38 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $168.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.19, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.44. BlackRock has a 52 week low of $917.39 and a 52 week high of $1,219.94. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $1,006.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $1,056.97. 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 (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 14th. The asset manager reported $12.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $12.40 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $6.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.56 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 24.40% and a return on equity of 14.74%. The firm’s revenue was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $9.64 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 52.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.