NFJ Investment Group LLC Has $26.32 Million Position in BlackRock $BLK

Key Points

• NFJ Investment Group LLC cut its BlackRock stake by 21.5% in the fourth quarter, selling 6,729 shares and ending with 24,586 shares valued at about $26.3 million.
• Other institutions were also active in BLK, and overall institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the stock, signaling continued heavy Wall Street ownership.
• Analysts remain broadly positive on BlackRock, with a Moderate Buy consensus and a target price of $1,264.61, while the company recently beat quarterly EPS and revenue estimates and declared a $5.73 quarterly dividend.

NFJ Investment Group LLC reduced its stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 21.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,586 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 6,729 shares during the quarter. NFJ Investment Group LLC's holdings in BlackRock were worth $26,315,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fieldview Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $1,071,000. Focus Partners Wealth grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 170,679 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $182,720,000 after buying an additional 15,188 shares during the period. Graybill Wealth Management LTD. grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Graybill Wealth Management LTD. now owns 6,543 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $7,003,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the period. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,736 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,938,000 after buying an additional 275 shares during the period. Finally, Integrity Financial Corp WA grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Integrity Financial Corp WA now owns 548 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $587,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BLK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore decreased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,140.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,240.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,368.00 to $1,393.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Weiss Ratings upgraded BlackRock from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,181.00 to $1,313.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,264.61.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 33,900 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer 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. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, President Robert Kapito sold 8,739 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,056.60, for a total value of $9,233,627.40. Following the transaction, the president directly owned 210,186 shares in the company, valued at $222,082,527.60. This trade represents a 3.99% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 1.92% of the company's stock.

BlackRock News Roundup

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 Trading Up 1.5%

NYSE BLK opened at $1,031.45 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $160.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.89, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.42. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $1,039.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1,051.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a current ratio of 4.09. 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 released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 14th. The asset manager reported $12.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $12.40 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $6.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.56 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 24.40%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 27.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $9.64 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 52.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a $5.73 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. BlackRock's payout ratio is presently 57.53%.

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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