BlackRock $BLK Shares Acquired by State Street Corp

Key Points

• State Street Corp increased its BlackRock stake by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, buying 33,752 more shares and bringing its holdings to 6.26 million shares valued at about $6.7 billion.
• BlackRock is facing redemption pressure in its private-credit funds, with withdrawal requests exceeding limits and the firm again capping redemptions, which may weigh on sentiment around its alternatives business.
• The company remains financially strong, having recently beat earnings and revenue estimates, and it also declared a quarterly dividend of $5.73 per share payable on June 23.

State Street Corp increased its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,264,545 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 33,752 shares during the period. State Street Corp owned approximately 4.04% of BlackRock worth $6,705,193,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in BlackRock by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 920,578 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $985,331,000 after buying an additional 7,457 shares in the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board lifted its position in BlackRock by 6,347.9% during the third quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 42,234 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $49,239,000 after buying an additional 41,579 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in BlackRock by 8.9% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 360,995 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $420,873,000 after buying an additional 29,449 shares in the last quarter. Sienna Gestion lifted its position in BlackRock by 51.5% during the third quarter. Sienna Gestion now owns 22,859 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $24,299,000 after buying an additional 7,773 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sarasin & Partners LLP lifted its position in BlackRock by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 251,856 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $269,572,000 after buying an additional 24,196 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:

• 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 Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $1,031.45 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 4.09, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,039.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1,051.37. The firm has a market cap of $160.11 billion, a PE ratio of 25.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.42. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $917.39 and a 12-month high of $1,219.94.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $12.40 by $0.13. BlackRock had a net margin of 24.40% and a return on equity of 14.74%. The business had revenue of $6.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $9.64 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 27.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 52.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

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 given a dividend of $5.73 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio is currently 57.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,269.00 to $1,128.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 13th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of 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. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,235.00 to $1,270.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of BlackRock from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,368.00 to $1,393.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. One equities research 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $1,264.61.

Insider Activity

In other news, President Robert Kapito sold 8,739 shares of the company's 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 completion of the transaction, the president owned 210,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $222,082,527.60. This represents a 3.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 33,900 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 230,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at $242,168,583.80. The trade was a 12.82% 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 corporate insiders.

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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