Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. Takes $23.12 Million Position in BlackRock $BLK

Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 24,046 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $23,122,000.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in BlackRock during the 2nd quarter valued at about $9,747,857,000. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.5% in 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 period. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 5,190.3% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,490,422 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,876,618,000 after acquiring an additional 5,386,640 shares in the last quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 4.7% during the first quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 5,330,492 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,126,387,000 after acquiring an additional 237,667 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.7% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,232,973 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,032,603,000 after acquiring an additional 35,069 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $1,174.17 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 3.59 and a current ratio of 3.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $181.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.06, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.42. BlackRock has a 1-year low of $917.39 and a 1-year high of $1,219.94. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $1,075.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $1,045.98.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $13.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $12.69 by $1.22. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.90% and a net margin of 24.09%.The company had revenue of $7.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $12.05 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 30.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 55.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $5.73 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $22.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 54.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on BLK shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,250.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,300.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $1,389.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,260.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $1,258.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $1,311.06.

Key BlackRock News

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has processed more than $5 billion in tax-deferred conversions from directly held Bitcoin. Reducing the minimum conversion size from $25 million to $1 million could make the product accessible to more wealthy investors and institutions, potentially supporting assets under management and fee revenue. However, these transactions transfer existing Bitcoin into the ETF rather than representing equivalent new cash inflows. Bitcoin to $100K? BlackRock’s $5B ETF Shift Pulls More BTC Into Wall Street
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street analysts remain broadly optimistic about BlackRock’s growth prospects and target price, despite the shares’ strong multiyear advance. What Are Wall Street Analysts’ Target Price for BlackRock Stock?
• Neutral Sentiment: BlackRock named Jessica Tan to lead its global product unit, a management change that could influence future product development and distribution but whose financial impact is not yet clear. BlackRock names Jessica Tan to head global product unit
• Neutral Sentiment: The company announced final August cash distributions for the iShares Premium Money Market ETF. The announcement is routine and primarily affects fund investors rather than BlackRock’s corporate earnings. BlackRock Canada Announces Final August Cash Distributions
• Negative Sentiment: Rosen Law Firm said it is investigating potential securities claims involving BlackRock mutual funds, alleging that the company may have issued materially misleading business information. The announcement does not establish wrongdoing, but it introduces potential legal, reputational and financial risk. BlackRock Investor News: Rosen Law Firm Investigation
• Negative Sentiment: One valuation review says BlackRock now trades near fair value on intrinsic estimates and looks expensive on earnings multiples after an approximately 82% three-year return, limiting near-term upside unless earnings and fee growth accelerate. BlackRock Stock Looks Fully Valued After an 82% Run

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.