Alley Investment Management Company LLC Sells 1,316 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Alley Investment Management Company LLC cut its position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 6.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,492 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,316 shares during the quarter. BlackRock makes up about 2.3% of Alley Investment Management Company LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Alley Investment Management Company LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $18,746,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Shum Financial Group Inc. grew its position in BlackRock by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Shum Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,183 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,336,000 after acquiring an additional 9 shares during the last quarter. First Bancorp Inc ME lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. First Bancorp Inc ME now owns 321 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $344,000 after acquiring an additional 9 shares during the last quarter. Rather & Kittrell Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Rather & Kittrell Inc. now owns 430 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $461,000 after acquiring an additional 9 shares during the last quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 755 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $808,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tortoise Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 23.8% during the 3rd quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 52 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 33,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 230,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $242,168,583.80. This represents a 12.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, President Robert Kapito sold 8,739 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the president owned 210,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $222,082,527.60. This trade represents a 3.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 1.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on BLK shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,181.00 to $1,313.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,300.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Evercore decreased their price objective on 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 lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,290.00 to $1,310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,269.44.

Key Headlines Impacting BlackRock

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock is helping launch Open USD, a new stablecoin backed by major firms including Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, BNY Mellon, Coinbase and BlackRock. Investors may see this as a strategic move to deepen BlackRock’s presence in crypto infrastructure and tokenized finance. Article: Stripe, Visa, BlackRock Back New Open USD Stablecoin In Bid To Challenge Tether, Circle
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock’s Aladdin platform is being integrated more deeply with Ethena’s tokenized dollar products, reinforcing BlackRock’s push into blockchain-based institutional finance and broadening the ecosystem around its platforms. Article: BlackRock’s Aladdin Platform Expands Integration with Ethena’s Tokenized Dollar Suite
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock registered shares related to its HPS deal consideration, a procedural step that suggests progress on a strategic acquisition/investment initiative rather than a setback. Article: BlackRock Registers Shares for HPS Deal Consideration
• Neutral Sentiment: BlackRock’s investment outlook turned cautious on emerging-market equities while upgrading euro bonds, reflecting a portfolio positioning shift that may not directly affect earnings but could influence sentiment around its market views and product flows. Article: BlackRock turns cautious on emerging markets, upgrades euro bonds
• Neutral Sentiment: Several reports showed outflows and rebalancing in BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF IBIT, which may weigh on crypto-related sentiment, but the flow data appears tied to broader ETF rotation rather than a BlackRock-specific problem. Article: BlackRock’s IBIT Sees $300M Outflow As Bitcoin ETF Rebalancing Deepens
• Negative Sentiment: Broader Bitcoin ETF weakness and a reported worst month for U.S. spot Bitcoin funds could pressure sentiment around BlackRock’s crypto ETF business if outflows continue, even though this is more about the category than BLK itself. Article: Bitcoin ETFs Set for Worst Month With $4 Billion in Outflows

BlackRock Trading Up 1.0%

BLK opened at $959.52 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,041.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1,047.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $148.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.08, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 4.09 and a quick ratio of 4.09. BlackRock has a one year low of $917.39 and a one year high of $1,219.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $6.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $9.64 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that BlackRock will post 53.18 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th were given a $5.73 dividend. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 57.53%.

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.