Focus Partners Wealth Purchases 15,188 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Focus Partners Wealth lifted its position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 9.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 170,679 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,188 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $182,720,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Graybill Wealth Management LTD. boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Graybill Wealth Management LTD. now owns 6,543 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,003,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 11.2% in the fourth quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,736 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,938,000 after acquiring an additional 275 shares in the last quarter. Integrity Financial Corp WA boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Integrity Financial Corp WA now owns 548 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $587,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,367 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,534,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Destination Wealth Management boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Destination Wealth Management now owns 1,253 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,341,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLK has been the topic of several analyst reports. TD Cowen dropped their target price on BlackRock from $1,238.00 to $1,105.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,181.00 to $1,313.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,368.00 to $1,393.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Weiss Ratings raised BlackRock from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,264.61.

BlackRock Stock Up 1.5%

BLK stock opened at $1,031.45 on Friday. BlackRock has a 1-year low of $917.39 and a 1-year high of $1,219.94. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $1,039.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $1,051.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 4.09 and a quick ratio of 4.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $160.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.42.

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

BlackRock Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other 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 completion of the transaction, the president owned 210,186 shares in the company, valued at $222,082,527.60. The trade was a 3.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 230,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $242,168,583.80. This represents a 12.82% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 1.92% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Trending Headlines about BlackRock

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 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.