Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Sells 27,098 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management cut its BlackRock stake by 18.8% in the first quarter, selling 27,098 shares and leaving it with 116,890 shares worth about $112.4 million.
• BlackRock reported better-than-expected first-quarter results, with EPS of $12.53 and revenue of $6.70 billion, both above analyst estimates and up sharply from a year earlier.
• Despite some recent insider selling and sentiment pressure around private-credit redemption concerns, analysts remain constructive overall, with several raising price targets and the stock carrying a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lessened its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 18.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 116,890 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 27,098 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.08% of BlackRock worth $112,414,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

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

Key BlackRock News

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock’s model portfolio team said a 1% to 2% Bitcoin allocation can be a reasonable diversifier, and related coverage highlights BlackRock’s growing role in digital assets, including support for institutional adoption of Bitcoin and the firm’s IBIT ETF. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock Canada announced final June cash distributions for the iShares Premium Money Market ETF, a routine fund-income update that reinforces steady ETF operations and product scale. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock’s Emergency Savings Initiative reported nearly $8 billion in savings generated and reach to more than 22 million Americans, highlighting another scale-driven, reputation-building initiative. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: BNP Paribas Exane raised its price target on BlackRock to $1,350 and kept an outperform rating, signaling continued analyst confidence. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: BlackRock also received additional media attention around Bitcoin and AI, but these headlines mostly reflect the firm’s evolving investment commentary rather than a direct financial catalyst for BLK stock.
• Negative Sentiment: Investor worries about private-credit redemptions appear to be weighing on sentiment, with BlackRock-linked redemption caps in some private-credit funds feeding broader concern about liquidity in the asset-management space. Article Title

BlackRock Trading Down 3.3%

NYSE:BLK opened at $981.41 on Thursday. 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 $152.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.42. BlackRock has a 52 week low of $917.39 and a 52 week high of $1,219.94. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $1,048.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $1,050.96.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 14th. The asset manager reported $12.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $12.40 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $6.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.56 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 24.40%.The company's revenue was up 27.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $9.64 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that BlackRock will post 52.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $5.73 per share. This represents a $22.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. BlackRock's payout ratio is presently 57.53%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 33,900 shares of the business's 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 230,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $242,168,583.80. The trade was a 12.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, President Robert Kapito sold 8,739 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 27th. The shares were 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 approximately $222,082,527.60. The trade was a 3.99% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 1.92% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,300.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,181.00 to $1,313.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. TD Cowen cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,238.00 to $1,105.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded BlackRock from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,235.00 to $1,270.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $1,267.39.

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.

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