Ally Financial Inc. Purchases New Position in BlackRock $BLK

Ally Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,000 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $2,141,000.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 3.4% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 2.9% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 1.9% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Burton Enright Welch acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $217,000. Finally, Kestra Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 7.8% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 33,900 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 of the company's stock, valued at $242,168,583.80. This represents a 12.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, President Robert Kapito sold 8,739 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 210,186 shares in the company, valued at $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. Corporate insiders own 1.92% of the company's stock.

Trending Headlines about BlackRock

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 Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of 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 firm 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 stock's fifty day simple moving average is $1,039.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1,051.37.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 14th. The asset manager reported $12.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $9.64 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 27.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that BlackRock will post 52.8 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on BLK shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target 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. UBS Group boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,235.00 to $1,270.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Weiss Ratings raised BlackRock from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Evercore reduced their price objective 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. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,290.00 to $1,310.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus 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.

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