Legal & General Group Plc Invests $807.04 Million in BlackRock $BLK

Key Points

• Legal & General Group acquired 839,302 BlackRock shares worth approximately $807 million, giving it a 0.54% stake. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 80.69% of BlackRock.
• BlackRock reported strong quarterly results, with revenue up 30.6% year over year to $7.08 billion and EPS of $13.91, beating analyst expectations. Analysts maintain a broadly positive outlook, with an average “Buy” rating and a $1,311.06 price target.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $5.73 per share, equivalent to $22.92 annually and a 2.0% yield. BlackRock shares were trading near $1,171.83, close to their 52-week high.

Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 839,302 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $807,039,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.54% of BlackRock as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the second quarter worth approximately $9,747,857,000. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,264,545 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $6,705,193,000 after buying an additional 33,752 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 5,190.3% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,490,422 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $5,876,618,000 after buying an additional 5,386,640 shares in the last quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 5,330,492 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $5,126,387,000 after buying an additional 237,667 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,232,973 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $5,032,603,000 after buying an additional 35,069 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company's stock.

BlackRock News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock’s roughly $965 million investment in Five Below NASDAQ: FIVE helped draw attention to its ability to deploy capital into high-growth companies. Five Below also reported strong quarterly results, sending its shares to a record high and potentially highlighting the value of BlackRock’s investment activity. Five Below Stock Soars Following BlackRock Investment
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock’s covered-call Bitcoin fund reportedly made its first monthly distribution, with an annualized rate of about 18.5%. The product could create a new fee and asset-gathering opportunity, although the high distribution reflects option income and may limit upside participation in Bitcoin. BlackRock Bitcoin Fund Pays First Dividend
• Neutral Sentiment: BlackRock has reiterated that its long-term investment case for Bitcoin remains intact despite a sharp correction. The comments support the firm’s broader digital-asset strategy, but do not directly affect near-term earnings unless they lead to additional fund inflows. BlackRock’s Long-Term Bitcoin Thesis
• Neutral Sentiment: Routine disclosures showed BlackRock subsidiaries’ holdings in Stora Enso fell below 5%, while other reports discussed BlackRock ETFs. These items have limited immediate implications for BLK’s fundamentals. BlackRock Subsidiaries Report Stora Enso Holdings
• Negative Sentiment: BlackRock is reportedly seeking buyers for approximately $671 million of loans held by TCP Capital, using Keefe, Bruyette & Woods to explore a sale. The move is intended to reshape the private-credit vehicle after a difficult period, but it may raise concerns about credit quality, valuation and execution in BlackRock’s private-markets platform. BlackRock Puts TCP Capital Loans on the Block
• Negative Sentiment: A law firm is soliciting investors who experienced losses in BlackRock mutual funds as part of an investigation into alleged misleading disclosures. The announcement is not a formal finding, but it adds legal and reputational risk. BlackRock Investor Rights Investigation

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on BLK shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $1,258.00 price target on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,300.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Evercore reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $1,260.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a report on Monday, August 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,383.00 to $1,488.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded BlackRock from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $1,311.06.

BlackRock Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $1,171.83 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 3.59 and a current ratio of 3.59. The company has a market capitalization of $181.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.01, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.42. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $917.39 and a 1 year high of $1,219.94. The company's fifty day moving average is $1,070.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1,044.42.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $13.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $12.69 by $1.22. BlackRock had a net margin of 24.09% and a return on equity of 14.90%. The business had revenue of $7.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.73 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $12.05 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 30.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 55.86 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be paid a dividend of $5.73 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio is currently 54.78%.

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.

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