Flputnam Investment Management Co. Acquires 739 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Flputnam Investment Management Co. raised its stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 4.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,320 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 739 shares during the quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $19,026,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BLK. Welch Group LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 760 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $797,000 after buying an additional 9 shares in the last quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 2.7% during the second quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 340 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $357,000 after acquiring an additional 9 shares during the period. CNB Bank lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 9.6% during the second quarter. CNB Bank now owns 103 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $108,000 after acquiring an additional 9 shares during the period. Magellan Asset Management Ltd boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 14.3% in the 2nd quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 72 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FAS Wealth Partners Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 817 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $857,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BLK. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,301.00 to $1,407.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,093.00 to $1,242.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,390.00 to $1,322.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Barclays reduced their target price on BlackRock from $1,360.00 to $1,340.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Monday, December 15th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,316.18.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, CFO Martin Small sold 1,258 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,043.38, for a total transaction of $1,312,572.04. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 6,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,478,346.42. The trade was a 16.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,165.04, for a total value of $13,980,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 7,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,394,113.20. This represents a 62.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK opened at $1,059.34 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 3.33 and a quick ratio of 3.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $164.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.47. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $1,082.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1,091.48. BlackRock has a one year low of $773.74 and a one year high of $1,219.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $11.78 by ($0.23). BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.80% and a net margin of 26.64%.The company had revenue of $6.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $11.46 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.59%.

Trending Headlines about BlackRock

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an Overweight rating, supporting demand expectations and giving BLK near-term analyst support. Morgan Stanley note
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock Canada cut management fees on several core iShares ETF portfolios (effective Dec. 18), which should help competitiveness and could lift AUM/flows in Canada. Fee cut press release
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street remains generally constructive: multiple recent buy/overweight ratings and above-consensus price targets point to continued analyst conviction in BLK’s long-term earnings power. Analyst notes summary
• Neutral Sentiment: BlackRock signed an MoU with Mastercard and others to promote blockchain adoption in the Middle East — a strategic partnership that’s incremental for growth but not immediately material to earnings. PYMNTS article
• Neutral Sentiment: Eni sold a 49.99% stake in its carbon capture unit to GIP (BlackRock’s infrastructure fund) giving joint control — a sign of GIP deal activity and infrastructure exposure but limited immediate impact on BLK’s public earnings. Reuters
• Neutral Sentiment: Comparative valuation pieces (e.g., IVZ vs BLK) are circulating but don’t change fundamentals; useful for allocators weighing expense/return trade-offs. Zacks comparison
• Negative Sentiment: Deutsche Bank issued a pessimistic forecast for BLK’s stock, which likely contributed to selling pressure from model/quant funds and some institutional rebalancing. Deutsche Bank note
• Negative Sentiment: Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced expectations for BLK, adding to the negative analyst noise and pressuring sentiment. KBW note
• Negative Sentiment: Crypto flows: large spot-Bitcoin ETF inflows were reported (helpful) but BlackRock also moved BTC/ETH to exchanges for redemptions, sparking market volatility and headlines blaming BLK for short-term crypto declines — this fuels risk-off in ETFs and hurt sentiment. Blockonomi NewsBTC
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider selling activity has been reported recently, which can amplify downside as it raises governance/flow concerns among some investors. QuiverQuant insider summary

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.