Wells Fargo & Company MN Decreases Stock Position in BlackRock $BLK

Wells Fargo & Company MN lessened its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,500,944 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 25,791 shares during the quarter. BlackRock makes up about 0.5% of Wells Fargo & Company MN’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Wells Fargo & Company MN’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $2,676,859,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 1,668 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,785,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC lifted its position in BlackRock by 22.6% during the fourth quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 3,110 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,329,000 after buying an additional 574 shares in the last quarter. Allianz SE lifted its position in BlackRock by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Allianz SE now owns 11,064 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,842,000 after buying an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. lifted its position in BlackRock by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 80,488 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $86,150,000 after buying an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Howland Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $900,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

NYSE:BLK opened at $1,031.45 on Friday. BlackRock has a 52 week low of $917.39 and a 52 week high of $1,219.94. 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 company has a market capitalization of $160.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.42. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $1,039.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1,051.37.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $9.64 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that BlackRock will post 52.8 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on BlackRock from $1,351.00 to $1,199.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on BlackRock from $1,238.00 to $1,105.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Evercore reduced their price objective on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,140.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Barclays lifted their price objective 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on BlackRock from $1,269.00 to $1,128.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 13th. One equities 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,264.61.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 33,900 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 230,516 shares in the company, valued at $242,168,583.80. The trade was a 12.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 completion of the sale, the president owned 210,186 shares in the company, valued at $222,082,527.60. This represents a 3.99% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 1.92% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting BlackRock

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

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.