BlackRock $BLK Stock Holdings Trimmed by Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund reduced its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 15.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 69,704 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 12,997 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $74,607,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in BlackRock by 1.6% in 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 buying an additional 221,123 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in BlackRock by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,264,545 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,705,193,000 after buying an additional 33,752 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in BlackRock by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,838,937 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,108,968,000 after buying an additional 12,019 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,167,460 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,374,394,000 after buying an additional 27,640 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,742,680,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $1,031.45 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.09, a current ratio of 4.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The business has a 50 day moving average of $1,039.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $1,051.60. BlackRock has a 52 week low of $917.39 and a 52 week high of $1,219.94. The company has a market cap of $160.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.89, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.42.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 14th. The asset manager reported $12.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $12.40 by $0.13. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 24.40%.The company had revenue of $6.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $9.64 earnings per share. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 27.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 52.8 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $5.73 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 57.53%.

More BlackRock News

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on BLK shares. 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 report on Wednesday, April 15th. Evercore lowered their price objective on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,140.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 8th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,235.00 to $1,270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Weiss Ratings upgraded BlackRock from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their target price on BlackRock from $1,238.00 to $1,105.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,264.61.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other news, 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 transaction of $9,233,627.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the president directly owned 210,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $222,082,527.60. The trade was a 3.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $35,613,645.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 230,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $242,168,583.80. This represents a 12.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 1.92% of the company’s stock.

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.