BlackRock $BLK Shares Sold by Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd

Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd cut its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 8.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 108,186 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 9,775 shares during the quarter. BlackRock makes up 0.6% of Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd owned about 0.07% of BlackRock worth $115,796,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in BlackRock by 866.7% during the 3rd quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. now owns 29 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Collier Financial acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Dogwood Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in BlackRock by 94.1% during the 3rd quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 33 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,087.29, for a total value of $58,920,245.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 51,478 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,971,514.62. This trade represents a 51.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Stephen Cohen sold 2,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,073.87, for a total value of $2,339,962.73. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,026,331.41. The trade was a 24.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 106,911 shares of company stock worth $114,670,698 over the last ninety days. 1.92% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on BLK. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,351.00 to $1,199.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,269.00 to $1,128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,181.00 to $1,313.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. CICC Research increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,250.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,290.00 to $1,310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,269.06.

More BlackRock News

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

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $1,083.38 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $168.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.44. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,006.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1,056.97. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $917.39 and a 12-month high of $1,219.94. The company has a current ratio of 4.09, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 14th. The asset manager reported $12.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $12.40 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $6.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.56 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 24.40%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $9.64 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 52.77 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock 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.