J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Cuts Position in BlackRock $BLK

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG reduced its position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 5.5% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 30,729 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,800 shares during the period. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $29,545,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. increased its stake in BlackRock by 0.4% during the first quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. now owns 18,871 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $18,148,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.2% in the first quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,815 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,592,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Associated Banc Corp grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.6% in the first quarter. Associated Banc Corp now owns 29,052 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $27,940,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in BlackRock by 254.0% during the 1st quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,699 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,766,000 after buying an additional 1,219 shares during the period. Finally, Pittenger & Anderson Inc. increased its stake in BlackRock by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 28,898 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $27,791,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the subject of several recent research reports. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,300.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Weiss Ratings upgraded BlackRock from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on BlackRock from $1,351.00 to $1,199.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,235.00 to $1,270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,273.33.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $1,036.18 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $160.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.01, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.43. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $1,034.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1,043.73. BlackRock has a twelve month low of $917.39 and a twelve month high of $1,219.94. 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 (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 14th. The asset manager reported $12.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $9.64 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 53.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a $5.73 dividend. This represents a $22.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 57.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, President Robert Kapito sold 8,739 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $222,082,527.60. This represents a 3.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 33,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,050.55, for a total transaction of $35,613,645.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 230,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $242,168,583.80. This represents a 12.82% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 1.92% of the company’s stock.

Key BlackRock News

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised its price target on BlackRock and maintained an outperform rating, signaling confidence ahead of earnings.
• Positive Sentiment: Barclays lifted its price target on BlackRock to $1,340 and kept an overweight rating, reflecting expectations for continued business momentum.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts expect Q2 results to benefit from ETF inflows, higher market levels, and growth in assets under management, which could support earnings and revenue.
• Neutral Sentiment: BlackRock’s newer crypto-related products, including its Bitcoin income ETF and BUIDL tokenized treasury fund, are attracting attention but are not yet a major earnings driver.
• Neutral Sentiment: Broad crypto ETF outflows were reported, though BlackRock’s IBIT was flat, limiting direct negative impact on the company.

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.