Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. Acquires New Position in BlackRock $BLK

Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. bought a new position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 24,046 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $23,122,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 212 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $227,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the period. Manske Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Manske Wealth Management now owns 345 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $369,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the period. Gibson Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Gibson Capital LLC now owns 308 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $330,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the period. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 230 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $246,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Great Diamond Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Great Diamond Partners LLC now owns 2,791 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,987,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.2%

BLK stock opened at $1,174.17 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $181.84 billion, a PE ratio of 28.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.42. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $1,075.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1,045.98. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $917.39 and a fifty-two week high of $1,219.94. The company has a quick ratio of 3.59, a current ratio of 3.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $7.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $12.05 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue was up 30.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that BlackRock will post 55.86 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $5.73 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 54.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $1,389.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Barclays lifted 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. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $1,260.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a report on Monday, August 10th. Zacks Research upgraded BlackRock from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,300.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,311.06.

Trending Headlines about BlackRock

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has processed more than $5 billion in tax-deferred conversions from directly held Bitcoin. Reducing the minimum conversion size from $25 million to $1 million could make the product accessible to more wealthy investors and institutions, potentially supporting assets under management and fee revenue. However, these transactions transfer existing Bitcoin into the ETF rather than representing equivalent new cash inflows. Bitcoin to $100K? BlackRock’s $5B ETF Shift Pulls More BTC Into Wall Street
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street analysts remain broadly optimistic about BlackRock’s growth prospects and target price, despite the shares’ strong multiyear advance. What Are Wall Street Analysts’ Target Price for BlackRock Stock?
• Neutral Sentiment: BlackRock named Jessica Tan to lead its global product unit, a management change that could influence future product development and distribution but whose financial impact is not yet clear. BlackRock names Jessica Tan to head global product unit
• Neutral Sentiment: The company announced final August cash distributions for the iShares Premium Money Market ETF. The announcement is routine and primarily affects fund investors rather than BlackRock’s corporate earnings. BlackRock Canada Announces Final August Cash Distributions
• Negative Sentiment: Rosen Law Firm said it is investigating potential securities claims involving BlackRock mutual funds, alleging that the company may have issued materially misleading business information. The announcement does not establish wrongdoing, but it introduces potential legal, reputational and financial risk. BlackRock Investor News: Rosen Law Firm Investigation
• Negative Sentiment: One valuation review says BlackRock now trades near fair value on intrinsic estimates and looks expensive on earnings multiples after an approximately 82% three-year return, limiting near-term upside unless earnings and fee growth accelerate. BlackRock Stock Looks Fully Valued After an 82% Run

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.