Wesbanco Bank Inc. Purchases 1,194 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Wesbanco Bank Inc. lifted its position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 9.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 14,387 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 1,194 shares during the quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $15,399,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BLK. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 23.1% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,575 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,615,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 1,052 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,078,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the second quarter valued at approximately $259,000. Nebula Research & Development LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the second quarter valued at approximately $548,000. Finally, Osterweis Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the second quarter valued at approximately $98,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

More BlackRock News

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BLK. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,351.00 to $1,199.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Freedom Capital raised shares of BlackRock from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. CICC Research raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,250.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BlackRock from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,269.00 to $1,128.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,269.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 33,900 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,050.55, for a total transaction of $35,613,645.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 230,516 shares in the company, valued at $242,168,583.80. This trade represents a 12.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 5,293 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,084.22, for a total transaction of $5,738,776.46. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 46,185 shares in the company, valued at $50,074,700.70. This represents a 10.28% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 106,911 shares of company stock valued at $114,670,698 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.92% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of BLK stock opened at $1,083.38 on Friday. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $917.39 and a 12-month high of $1,219.94. The company has a current ratio of 4.09, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $1,006.83 and its 200 day moving average is $1,056.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $168.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.44.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its 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 company had revenue of $6.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $9.64 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that BlackRock will post 52.77 earnings per share for the current year.

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.