L2 Asset Management LLC Purchases New Position in BlackRock $BLK

L2 Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 789 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $759,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 2nd quarter valued at about $9,747,857,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,264,545 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,705,193,000 after acquiring an additional 33,752 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 5,190.3% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,490,422 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,876,618,000 after acquiring an additional 5,386,640 shares in the last quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 4.7% during the first quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 5,330,492 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,126,387,000 after purchasing an additional 237,667 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 0.7% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,232,973 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,032,603,000 after purchasing an additional 35,069 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on BLK. Zacks Research upgraded shares of BlackRock from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of BlackRock from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,250.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,270.00 to $1,320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,340.00 to $1,450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $1,311.06.

BlackRock News Roundup

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

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $1,171.83 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $1,070.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $1,044.42. The firm has a market cap of $181.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.01, a P/E/G 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 has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 3.59 and a quick ratio of 3.59.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $13.91 earnings per share (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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $12.05 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 55.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company 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 is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.78%.

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.