BlackRock $BLK Stake Boosted by &PARTNERS

&PARTNERS boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 8.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 82,802 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,710 shares during the quarter. &PARTNERS’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $88,629,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Birchbrook Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Basepoint Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Swiss RE Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 33,900 shares of the 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 transaction of $35,613,645.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 230,516 shares in the company, 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 at the SEC website. Also, President Robert Kapito sold 8,739 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,056.60, for a total value of $9,233,627.40. Following the transaction, the president owned 210,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $222,082,527.60. This trade represents a 3.99% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 1.92% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting BlackRock

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock’s top investment executive, Rick Rieder, said Bitcoin is “ultimately going considerably higher,” reinforcing the firm’s bullish stance on digital assets and potentially boosting sentiment around BlackRock’s crypto-linked business opportunities.
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock remains in focus as a large asset manager with a steady dividend profile, with its next quarterly payout due soon, which can appeal to income-focused investors.
• Neutral Sentiment: BlackRock Canada announced product changes and risk-rating updates for several iShares ETFs, reflecting routine portfolio maintenance and index transitions rather than a major business shift.
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles highlighted BlackRock commentary on AI, private markets, and a broader market rotation out of cash, which may support the long-term investment case but do not directly change near-term fundamentals.
• Negative Sentiment: BlackRock is cutting nearly 200 jobs globally, part of a continued “rightsizing” effort tied to efficiency and growth initiatives; while modest in scale, the repeated layoffs may signal management is still trimming costs aggressively.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.9%

BLK stock opened at $1,051.81 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $163.27 billion, a PE ratio of 26.40, a PEG ratio of 1.36 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 fifty day simple moving average of $1,043.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1,051.76. The company has a current ratio of 4.09, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

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

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on BLK shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,181.00 to $1,313.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,368.00 to $1,393.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Evercore lowered their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,140.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 8th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,290.00 to $1,310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,235.00 to $1,270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. One investment 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,264.61.

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.