Conning Inc. Grows Position in BlackRock $BLK

Conning Inc. increased its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 22.1% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 38,102 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,905 shares during the period. BlackRock makes up 1.2% of Conning Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Conning Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $36,643,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 23.1% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,575 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,615,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 1,052 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. bought a new position in BlackRock during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $259,000. Nebula Research & Development LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $548,000. Finally, Osterweis Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $98,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on BLK. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,300.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,393.00 to $1,430.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,238.00 to $1,105.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,269.00 to $1,128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,273.33.

BlackRock Stock Up 1.6%

NYSE:BLK opened at $1,036.18 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a current ratio of 4.09. The firm has a market cap of $160.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.43. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $917.39 and a fifty-two week high of $1,219.94. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,034.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1,044.04.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 14th. The asset manager reported $12.53 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $6.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $9.64 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 27.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that BlackRock will post 53.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 33,900 shares of the company’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 transaction of $35,613,645.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 230,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $242,168,583.80. This represents a 12.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, President Robert Kapito sold 8,739 shares of the company’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 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. 1.92% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting BlackRock

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised its price target on BlackRock and maintained an outperform rating, signaling confidence ahead of earnings.
• Positive Sentiment: Barclays lifted its price target on BlackRock to $1,340 and kept an overweight rating, reflecting expectations for continued business momentum.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts expect Q2 results to benefit from ETF inflows, higher market levels, and growth in assets under management, which could support earnings and revenue.
• Neutral Sentiment: BlackRock’s newer crypto-related products, including its Bitcoin income ETF and BUIDL tokenized treasury fund, are attracting attention but are not yet a major earnings driver.
• Neutral Sentiment: Broad crypto ETF outflows were reported, though BlackRock’s IBIT was flat, limiting direct negative impact on the company.

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.