KBC Group NV Purchases 563 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

KBC Group NV increased its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 4.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,313 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 563 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $12,803,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 5,190.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 5,386,640 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth about $2,742,680,000. Oak Harvest Investment Services raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 12,176.1% in the fourth quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services now owns 1,595,153 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,707,356,000 after purchasing an additional 1,582,159 shares during the period. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 106,934.0% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 1,284,408 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $128,441,000 after purchasing an additional 1,283,208 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 200.5% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,451,122 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,553,194,000 after buying an additional 968,245 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key BlackRock News

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock-led infrastructure vehicles completed the acquisition of Aligned Data Centers and are committing an additional $5 billion in growth capital, reinforcing BLK’s exposure to the AI buildout and alternative-asset fee opportunities. AIP, MGX and BlackRock’s GIP Close Acquisition of Aligned Data Centers
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock Canada announced monthly July cash distributions across a wide slate of iShares ETFs, underscoring the strength and recurring income appeal of its ETF franchise. BlackRock Canada Announces July Cash Distributions for the iShares ETFs
• Positive Sentiment: Investor interest in BlackRock’s Ethereum products remains strong, with reports of fresh inflows into ETHA and a new, similar ether fund that adds another monetizable product in digital assets. Forget ETHA. iShares’ Other Ether Fund Is Nearly Identical, Except It Pays You
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Larry Fink’s comments that AI growth is constrained by electricity, plus New York’s data-center moratorium, keep attention on power bottlenecks for the AI infrastructure theme BlackRock is investing behind. Larry Fink Says AI Needs More Electricity. Google Is Trying To Need Less Of It.
• Neutral Sentiment: BlackRock’s ETF and asset-management announcements, including distribution updates and product coverage, are broadly supportive but not likely to move the stock on their own. BlackRock® Canada Announces July Cash Distributions for the iShares® ETFs
• Negative Sentiment: Some recent headlines note BlackRock reducing a few holdings and broader financial-sector weakness, which may add mild pressure, but these appear less important than the positive infrastructure and ETF news. Major Shareholder Announcement

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 33,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 $242,168,583.80. This trade represents a 12.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,056.60, for a total transaction of $9,233,627.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the president directly owned 210,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $222,082,527.60. This represents a 3.99% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 1.92% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $1,037.31 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $1,032.09 and a 200 day moving average of $1,042.37. The company has a current ratio of 4.09, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market cap of $160.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.43. BlackRock has a 12 month low of $917.39 and a 12 month high of $1,219.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $13.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $12.69 by $1.22. BlackRock had a net margin of 24.09% and a return on equity of 15.01%. The business had revenue of $7.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.73 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $12.05 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 55.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were given a $5.73 dividend. This represents a $22.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,145.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday, July 10th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,298.00 to $1,320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,383.00 to $1,488.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised BlackRock from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $1,165.00 to $1,364.00 in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,270.00 to $1,320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,304.29.

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.