California Public Employees Retirement System Has $263.18 Million Position in BlackRock $BLK

California Public Employees Retirement System cut its holdings in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 3.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 273,657 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 9,553 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $263,179,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Birchbrook Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Basepoint Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Swiss RE Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock reported record second-quarter results, with revenue and earnings beating Wall Street estimates and client assets reaching a new high, highlighting strong operating momentum. Blackrock CEO Says Client Demand Has ‘Never Been Greater’ as Assets Reach Record $15.3 Trillion
• Positive Sentiment: BMO Capital Markets raised its price target on BlackRock to $1,300 and kept an outperform view, while other firms also lifted targets after the earnings beat, signaling rising Street confidence. BlackRock price target raised by BMO Capital Markets
• Positive Sentiment: J.P. Morgan upgraded BlackRock to overweight/buy-equivalent and Bank of America reiterated a buy rating, citing growth opportunities in tokenization, private markets, direct indexing, and automation-led margin expansion. JP Morgan upgrades BlackRock to buy-equivalent after Q2 earnings
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock’s iShares business surpassed $6 trillion in assets, and Bitcoin ETF inflows continued to support the firm’s fast-growing ETF platform, reinforcing a strong fee-based growth story. BlackRock iShares Surpasses $6 Trillion in Assets
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles highlighted BlackRock’s expanding ownership stakes in other companies and broader market commentary, but these items are not likely to materially move BLK shares on their own.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, President Robert Kapito sold 8,739 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,056.60, for a total transaction of $9,233,627.40. Following the sale, 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 this link. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 33,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,050.55, for a total value of $35,613,645.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 230,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $242,168,583.80. This represents a 12.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 1.92% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the topic of a number of research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $1,258.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,250.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,270.00 to $1,320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of 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. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,340.00 to $1,450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,304.29.

BlackRock Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of BLK stock opened at $1,072.30 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $166.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.43. BlackRock has a one year low of $917.39 and a one year high of $1,219.94. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $1,033.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $1,043.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 4.09 and a quick ratio of 4.09.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $13.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $12.69 by $1.22. BlackRock had a net margin of 24.09% and a return on equity of 15.01%. The firm had revenue of $7.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.73 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $12.05 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that BlackRock will post 54.72 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a $5.73 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $22.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 57.53%.

BlackRock Company 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.