ARS Investment Partners LLC Buys 648 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

ARS Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 6.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,120 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 648 shares during the period. ARS Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $11,902,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Birchbrook Inc. bought a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA bought a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in BlackRock by 866.7% in the 3rd quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. now owns 29 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Collier Financial bought a new position in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting BlackRock

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock’s GIP unit is teaming with Temasek and Abu Dhabi-linked investors to target up to $30 billion in infrastructure deals, a sign that the firm continues to expand its alternative-investments platform and fee-earning asset base. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan increased its holdings of BlackRock’s IBIT Bitcoin ETF by 174%, reinforcing institutional demand for BlackRock’s crypto-linked products and supporting the company’s ETF growth story. Cointelegraph article
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock is also being highlighted for income-focused ETF demand, with several high-yield iShares funds offering yields above 6%, which may keep assets flowing into its ETF franchise. TipRanks article

BlackRock Price Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $1,081.49 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $1,009.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $1,055.57. The company has a current ratio of 4.09, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $917.39 and a 12-month high of $1,219.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $167.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.44.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly 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 analyst estimates of $6.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $9.64 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 52.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, President Robert Kapito sold 8,739 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Monday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,056.60, for a total value of $9,233,627.40. Following the transaction, the president directly owned 210,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $222,082,527.60. The trade was a 3.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 2,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was 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 $67,127,439. This represents a 3.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 45,249 shares of company stock valued at $47,671,714 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.92% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,351.00 to $1,199.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BlackRock from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 17th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on BlackRock from $1,238.00 to $1,105.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. UBS Group boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,235.00 to $1,270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,290.00 to $1,310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,269.06.

About BlackRock

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.