Osprey Private Wealth LLC Purchases 1,204 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Osprey Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 15.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,132 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,204 shares during the quarter. BlackRock comprises 2.8% of Osprey Private Wealth LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Osprey Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $9,774,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BLK. Oak Harvest Investment Services boosted its position in BlackRock by 12,176.1% during the fourth quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services now owns 1,595,153 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,707,356,000 after acquiring an additional 1,582,159 shares during the last quarter. Viking Global Investors LP boosted its position in BlackRock by 217.5% during the third quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 619,492 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $722,247,000 after acquiring an additional 424,388 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its position in BlackRock by 29,043.2% during the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 245,094 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $285,748,000 after acquiring an additional 244,253 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in BlackRock by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,062,677 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $15,051,846,000 after acquiring an additional 221,123 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its position in BlackRock by 39.5% during the third quarter. Amundi now owns 547,249 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $645,354,000 after acquiring an additional 154,907 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,087.29, for a total value of $58,920,245.10. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 51,478 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,971,514.62. This trade represents a 51.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,083.05, for a total transaction of $2,166,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 61,980 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,127,439. The trade was a 3.13% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 106,911 shares of company stock worth $114,670,698 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on BLK. BNP Paribas Exane upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,290.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of BlackRock from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of BlackRock from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,181.00 to $1,313.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,269.06.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK stock opened at $1,083.38 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $168.51 billion, a PE ratio of 27.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.44. The company’s 50-day moving average is $1,006.83 and its 200-day moving average is $1,056.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 4.09 and a quick ratio of 2.98. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $917.39 and a 1 year high of $1,219.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $6.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.56 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 24.40% and a return on equity of 14.74%. The business’s revenue was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $9.64 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that BlackRock will post 52.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock News Summary

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 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.