Lighthouse Financial Services Inc. ADV Buys Shares of 3,107 BlackRock $BLK

Key Points

• Lighthouse Financial Services disclosed a new stake in BlackRock, buying 3,107 shares valued at about $3.33 million in the fourth quarter.
• BlackRock continues to attract significant institutional ownership, with hedge funds and other institutions making additional purchases; overall, institutional investors now hold 80.69% of the company’s stock.
• The article highlights mixed sentiment around BlackRock: the company is getting attention for growth opportunities in Aladdin/private credit and ETF strength, but there are also concerns about private credit markdowns and a defaulted China loan in its private markets business.

Lighthouse Financial Services Inc. ADV bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 3,107 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $3,325,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 866.7% in the 3rd quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. now owns 29 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the period. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Collier Financial acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Dogwood Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 94.1% in the 3rd quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 33 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 16 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting BlackRock

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock is drawing interest from investors after reports highlighted its new Aladdin private credit features with Preqin, which could strengthen its data and analytics offering in a growing market and support future asset-management revenue. BlackRock (BLK) Valuation Check As New Aladdin Private Credit Features With Preqin Draw Focus
• Positive Sentiment: CEO Larry Fink’s push for clearer crypto and tokenization rules, along with comments that “compute futures” could become a new asset class, reinforces BlackRock’s reputation as an innovation leader in digital assets and next-generation markets. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink Is Demanding Crypto Regulations. Here's What It Means for Investors.
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock’s ETF franchise continues to be highlighted as a major competitive advantage, with articles pointing to lower fees, scale, and liquidity benefits that could keep supporting inflows into iShares products. BlackRock Touts ETFs as Liquidity Antidote to Private Exposure
• Neutral Sentiment: BlackRock’s philanthropic $30 million Texas workforce initiative may improve brand and public relations, but it is unlikely to move the stock materially in the near term. BlackRock Launches Signature Philanthropic Initiative in Texas with $30M Commitment to Grow Electrical Workforce
• Negative Sentiment: Recent reports that BlackRock cut the value of parts of its private credit portfolio, including markdowns tied to software borrowers, are a reminder that credit risk remains elevated in a softer lending environment. BlackRock cut private credit fund's value by 5% in first quarter
• Negative Sentiment: News that a BlackRock Asia private credit fund is trying to recover money from a defaulted China loan adds to concerns about underwriting quality and credit performance in the firm’s private markets business. BlackRock Fund Faces Test in Recovering Defaulted China Loan

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other news, Director Stephen Cohen sold 2,179 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,073.87, for a total transaction of $2,339,962.73. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,543 shares in the company, valued at $7,026,331.41. This represents a 24.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,083.05, for a total transaction of $2,166,100.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 61,980 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $67,127,439. This represents a 3.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 106,911 shares of company stock worth $114,670,698. Corporate insiders own 1.92% of the company's stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $1,083.38 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $1,006.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $1,056.97. BlackRock has a 1-year low of $917.39 and a 1-year high of $1,219.94. The company has a current ratio of 4.09, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a market cap of $168.51 billion, a PE ratio of 27.19, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.44.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 14th. The asset manager reported $12.53 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 company had revenue of $6.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $9.64 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that BlackRock will post 52.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on BLK shares. UBS Group boosted their price target 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. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target 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. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of BlackRock from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,240.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,269.00 to $1,128.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $1,269.06.

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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