Ally Financial Inc. Buys Shares of 2,000 BlackRock $BLK

Ally Financial Inc. bought a new stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 2,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $2,141,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 33,139 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $35,470,000 after buying an additional 1,088 shares during the period. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,393 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,561,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the period. CreativeOne Wealth LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 1,421 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,521,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the period. Burton Enright Welch acquired a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $217,000. Finally, Kestra Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 22,806 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $24,410,000 after buying an additional 1,657 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on BLK. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Evercore cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,140.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,351.00 to $1,199.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on BlackRock from $1,238.00 to $1,105.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,368.00 to $1,393.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,264.61.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, 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 transaction, the president owned 210,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $222,082,527.60. The trade was a 3.99% decrease in their position. 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 that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 230,516 shares in the company, valued at $242,168,583.80. This trade represents a 12.82% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 1.92% of the stock is owned by insiders.

BlackRock News Roundup

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 Price Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $1,031.45 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.09, a current ratio of 4.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $917.39 and a 12-month high of $1,219.94. The company has a market capitalization of $160.11 billion, a PE ratio of 25.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.42. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $1,039.86 and its 200-day moving average is $1,051.37.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 14th. The asset manager reported $12.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $12.40 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $6.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.56 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 24.40% and a return on equity of 14.74%. The firm’s revenue was up 27.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $9.64 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 52.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $5.73 per share. 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 payout ratio is 57.53%.

About BlackRock

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.