Equitable Holdings Inc. Purchases New Stake in BlackRock $BLK

Equitable Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 8,193 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $7,878,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BLK. Advisors Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 2nd quarter worth $33,847,000. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 920,578 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $985,331,000 after purchasing an additional 7,457 shares in the last quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the second quarter valued at about $28,185,000. Haverford Trust Co purchased a new position in BlackRock during the second quarter worth about $264,500,000. Finally, Liberty One Investment Management LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 30.7% in the 1st quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC now owns 4,861 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,675,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the subject of several analyst reports. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,298.00 to $1,320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $1,389.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,260.00 price target on shares of BlackRock in a report on Monday, August 10th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,250.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,311.06.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE:BLK opened at $1,167.69 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 3.59, a quick ratio of 3.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $1,077.50 and its 200 day moving average is $1,046.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $180.84 billion, a PE ratio of 27.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.42.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $13.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $12.69 by $1.22. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.90% and a net margin of 24.09%.The business had revenue of $7.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.73 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $12.05 earnings per share. BlackRock’s revenue was up 30.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock will post 55.86 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be paid 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 54.78%.

Key Stories Impacting BlackRock

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock’s newer income-focused ETF is reportedly up 19% this year, compared with 10% for JPMorgan’s JEPQ, while charging the same fee. Strong relative performance could support additional iShares inflows and fee revenue. BlackRock ETF outperformance article
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock continues to highlight Bitcoin’s role as “digital gold” and a hedge against rising U.S. debt and deficits. Management also sees continued strength in Bitcoin, supporting the long-term case for cryptocurrency-related assets under management. BlackRock Bitcoin hedge case article
• Positive Sentiment: Adroit Trading Technologies is integrating its cross-asset execution tools with BlackRock’s Aladdin platform. The partnership may improve Aladdin’s functionality, client retention and potential technology-related revenue. Aladdin integration article
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock’s crypto portfolio reportedly gained more than $15 billion during August as Bitcoin and Ethereum rallied. The firm is also participating in an Nvidia-led effort tied to AI infrastructure, broadening potential future growth avenues beyond traditional asset management. BlackRock crypto and AI strategy 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.