Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Has $167.49 Million Stock Position in BlackRock $BLK

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lowered its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 44.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 156,478 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 126,111 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $167,485,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Birchbrook Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Basepoint Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Swiss RE Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,238.00 to $1,105.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on 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, Barclays raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,290.00 to $1,310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note 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 issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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

BlackRock Stock Performance

BLK opened at $1,031.45 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $1,039.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1,051.60. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $917.39 and a 1 year high of $1,219.94. The company has a market capitalization of $160.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 4.09 and a quick ratio of 4.09.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 14th. The asset manager reported $12.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $6.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $9.64 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that BlackRock will post 52.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 33,900 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 230,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $242,168,583.80. This trade represents a 12.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, President Robert Kapito sold 8,739 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,056.60, for a total value of $9,233,627.40. Following the completion of the sale, the president directly owned 210,186 shares in the company, valued at $222,082,527.60. This represents a 3.99% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 1.92% of the company’s stock.

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.