Crawford Investment Counsel Inc. Reduces Position in BlackRock $BLK

Key Points

• Crawford Investment Counsel trimmed its BlackRock stake by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, selling 1,009 shares and ending with 76,830 shares valued at about $82.2 million.
• Institutional ownership remains high, with hedge funds and other institutions holding 80.69% of BlackRock’s stock. Other investors were active too, including Legal & General and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board increasing their positions.
• Insider selling was notable: CEO Laurence Fink and President Robert Kapito both sold shares in late April, even as analysts maintained a generally bullish view with a Moderate Buy consensus and a $1,264.61 price target.

Crawford Investment Counsel Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 76,830 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 1,009 shares during the quarter. BlackRock comprises about 1.3% of Crawford Investment Counsel Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Crawford Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings in BlackRock were worth $82,234,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 920,578 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $985,331,000 after purchasing an additional 7,457 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 6,347.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 41,579 shares during the period. Sarasin & Partners LLP grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 251,856 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $269,572,000 after purchasing an additional 24,196 shares during the period. Sienna Gestion grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 51.5% in the third quarter. Sienna Gestion now owns 22,859 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $24,299,000 after purchasing an additional 7,773 shares during the period. Finally, Hudson Bay Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter valued at about $3,791,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,351.00 to $1,199.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,181.00 to $1,313.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,290.00 to $1,310.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,235.00 to $1,270.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. One investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $1,264.61.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 33,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, President Robert Kapito sold 8,739 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,056.60, for a total transaction of $9,233,627.40. Following the sale, the president directly owned 210,186 shares in the company, valued at $222,082,527.60. This represents a 3.99% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 1.92% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.9%

NYSE BLK opened at $1,051.81 on Wednesday. The firm's 50-day moving average is $1,043.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1,051.76. BlackRock has a 12 month low of $917.39 and a 12 month high of $1,219.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 4.09 and a quick ratio of 4.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $163.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.40, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.42.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 14th. The asset manager reported $12.53 EPS 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 company had revenue of $6.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $9.64 earnings per share. BlackRock's revenue for the quarter was up 27.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 52.8 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. 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 currently 57.53%.

More BlackRock News

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock’s top investment executive, Rick Rieder, said Bitcoin is “ultimately going considerably higher,” reinforcing the firm’s bullish stance on digital assets and potentially boosting sentiment around BlackRock’s crypto-linked business opportunities.
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock remains in focus as a large asset manager with a steady dividend profile, with its next quarterly payout due soon, which can appeal to income-focused investors.
• Neutral Sentiment: BlackRock Canada announced product changes and risk-rating updates for several iShares ETFs, reflecting routine portfolio maintenance and index transitions rather than a major business shift.
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles highlighted BlackRock commentary on AI, private markets, and a broader market rotation out of cash, which may support the long-term investment case but do not directly change near-term fundamentals.
• Negative Sentiment: BlackRock is cutting nearly 200 jobs globally, part of a continued “rightsizing” effort tied to efficiency and growth initiatives; while modest in scale, the repeated layoffs may signal management is still trimming costs aggressively.

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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