Diversify Wealth Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in BlackRock $BLK

Diversify Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 254.0% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,699 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,219 shares during the quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,766,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. raised its stake in BlackRock by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 28,898 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $27,791,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 43,230 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $39,827,000 after purchasing an additional 2,392 shares during the last quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp now owns 17,605 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $16,931,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.2% during the first quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 33,826 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $32,531,000 after buying an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 65.0% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 116,149 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $111,702,000 after buying an additional 45,753 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BLK. 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 research note on Monday, April 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,240.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of BlackRock from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. UBS Group boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,235.00 to $1,270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on BlackRock from $1,269.00 to $1,128.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,270.72.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of BLK stock opened at $1,026.88 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $159.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.78, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.43. BlackRock has a 1-year low of $917.39 and a 1-year 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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $1,033.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1,042.90.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 14th. The asset manager reported $12.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $12.40 by $0.13. BlackRock had a net margin of 24.40% and a return on equity of 14.74%. The business had revenue of $6.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.56 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $9.64 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 54.16 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $5.73 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $22.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 57.53%.

Key Stories Impacting BlackRock

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock is expected to deliver another strong quarter, with Wall Street looking for Q2 EPS of $12.65 and revenue of $6.74 billion, both implying solid year-over-year growth and setting up a potentially favorable earnings reaction. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Investor demand for BlackRock’s cash-style ETF SGOV is surging, with assets nearing $100 billion, highlighting strong inflows into BlackRock’s ETF franchise and ongoing demand for its low-risk cash management products. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock’s tokenization and digital-asset initiatives are gaining traction, including BUIDL’s rapid asset growth and BlackRock’s role in a UK tokenization task force, reinforcing the company’s positioning in a fast-growing market. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: BlackRock continues to be discussed favorably in comparison pieces and ETF coverage, but these articles are more informational than stock-moving. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley lowered its price target on BlackRock to $1,383 from $1,430, but kept an overweight rating, so the signal is still positive overall despite slightly less upside. Article Title

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 33,900 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,050.55, for a total value of $35,613,645.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 230,516 shares in the company, valued at $242,168,583.80. This trade represents a 12.82% decrease in their position. The sale 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 on Monday, April 27th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $222,082,527.60. This represents a 3.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 1.92% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.