Conning Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in BlackRock $BLK

Key Points

• Conning Inc. increased its BlackRock stake by 22.1% in the first quarter, buying 6,905 additional shares and bringing its total position to 38,102 shares worth about $36.6 million.
• BlackRock has been getting positive analyst attention, with firms including Keefe, Bruyette & Woods and Barclays raising price targets while keeping bullish ratings; the consensus view remains Moderate Buy.
• The company recently beat earnings expectations, reporting $12.53 per share on $6.70 billion in revenue, and it also paid a quarterly dividend of $5.73 per share, equal to a 2.2% annualized yield.

Conning Inc. raised its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 22.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 38,102 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 6,905 shares during the period. BlackRock accounts for 1.2% of Conning Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Conning Inc.'s holdings in BlackRock were worth $36,643,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Birchbrook Inc. bought a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Basepoint Wealth LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Swiss RE Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company's stock.

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 Price Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $1,036.18 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $160.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.01, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a quick ratio of 4.09, a current ratio of 4.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,034.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1,044.04. BlackRock has a 52 week low of $917.39 and a 52 week high of $1,219.94.

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, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.56 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $9.64 earnings per share. BlackRock's quarterly revenue was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 53.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a dividend of $5.73 per share. This represents a $22.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 57.53%.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 33,900 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 1.92% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,240.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday. UBS Group raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,235.00 to $1,270.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price 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. Barclays increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,310.00 to $1,340.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised BlackRock from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $1,273.33.

About BlackRock

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.