Sarasin & Partners LLP Buys 4,419 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Sarasin & Partners LLP boosted its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 227,660 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,419 shares during the quarter. BlackRock accounts for 2.6% of Sarasin & Partners LLP’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Sarasin & Partners LLP owned approximately 0.15% of BlackRock worth $267,628,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Welch Group LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.2% during the second quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 760 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $797,000 after buying an additional 9 shares during the period. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. boosted its position in BlackRock by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 340 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $357,000 after acquiring an additional 9 shares during the last quarter. CNB Bank grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 9.6% during the 2nd quarter. CNB Bank now owns 103 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $108,000 after acquiring an additional 9 shares in the last quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 14.3% in the second quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 72 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FAS Wealth Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% in the second quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 817 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $857,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an Overweight rating, supporting demand expectations and giving BLK near-term analyst support. Morgan Stanley note
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock Canada cut management fees on several core iShares ETF portfolios (effective Dec. 18), which should help competitiveness and could lift AUM/flows in Canada. Fee cut press release
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street remains generally constructive: multiple recent buy/overweight ratings and above-consensus price targets point to continued analyst conviction in BLK’s long-term earnings power. Analyst notes summary
• Neutral Sentiment: BlackRock signed an MoU with Mastercard and others to promote blockchain adoption in the Middle East — a strategic partnership that’s incremental for growth but not immediately material to earnings. PYMNTS article
• Neutral Sentiment: Eni sold a 49.99% stake in its carbon capture unit to GIP (BlackRock’s infrastructure fund) giving joint control — a sign of GIP deal activity and infrastructure exposure but limited immediate impact on BLK’s public earnings. Reuters
• Neutral Sentiment: Comparative valuation pieces (e.g., IVZ vs BLK) are circulating but don’t change fundamentals; useful for allocators weighing expense/return trade-offs. Zacks comparison
• Negative Sentiment: Deutsche Bank issued a pessimistic forecast for BLK’s stock, which likely contributed to selling pressure from model/quant funds and some institutional rebalancing. Deutsche Bank note
• Negative Sentiment: Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced expectations for BLK, adding to the negative analyst noise and pressuring sentiment. KBW note
• Negative Sentiment: Crypto flows: large spot-Bitcoin ETF inflows were reported (helpful) but BlackRock also moved BTC/ETH to exchanges for redemptions, sparking market volatility and headlines blaming BLK for short-term crypto declines — this fuels risk-off in ETFs and hurt sentiment. Blockonomi NewsBTC
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider selling activity has been reported recently, which can amplify downside as it raises governance/flow concerns among some investors. QuiverQuant insider summary

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,165.04, for a total value of $13,980,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,205 shares in the company, valued at $8,394,113.20. The trade was a 62.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Martin Small sold 1,258 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,043.38, for a total value of $1,312,572.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 6,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,478,346.42. This represents a 16.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,280.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Citigroup raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on BlackRock from $1,305.00 to $1,298.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $1,313.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,486.00 to $1,514.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,316.18.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.5%

BLK stock opened at $1,059.34 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $164.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $1,082.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $1,091.48. BlackRock has a one year low of $773.74 and a one year high of $1,219.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 3.33 and a quick ratio of 3.33.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $11.78 by ($0.23). The company had revenue of $6.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.22 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.80% and a net margin of 26.64%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $11.46 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.59%.

BlackRock Company 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.