Voya Investment Management LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in BlackRock $BLK

Voya Investment Management LLC reduced its position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 13.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,933 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 5,482 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $40,728,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Buckhead Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Buckhead Capital Management LLC now owns 3,712 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,327,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Riversedge Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $228,000. Pacifica Partners Inc. increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 450.0% during the third quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 22 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the period. Talbot Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.7% during the third quarter. Talbot Financial LLC now owns 14,514 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $16,922,000 after acquiring an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Genesis Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the third quarter worth $263,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLK has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,093.00 to $1,242.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Argus boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,165.00 to $1,330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,486.00 to $1,514.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,456.00 to $1,464.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,301.00 to $1,407.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,316.18.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $1,059.34 on Friday. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $773.74 and a 1 year high of $1,219.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 3.33 and a quick ratio of 3.33. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $1,082.73 and a 200 day moving average of $1,091.48. The stock has a market cap of $164.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.47.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.78 by ($0.23). BlackRock had a net margin of 26.64% and a return on equity of 14.80%. The business had revenue of $6.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $11.46 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 53.59%.

Trending Headlines about BlackRock

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an Overweight rating, supporting demand expectations and giving BLK near-term analyst support. Morgan Stanley note
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock Canada cut management fees on several core iShares ETF portfolios (effective Dec. 18), which should help competitiveness and could lift AUM/flows in Canada. Fee cut press release
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street remains generally constructive: multiple recent buy/overweight ratings and above-consensus price targets point to continued analyst conviction in BLK’s long-term earnings power. Analyst notes summary
• Neutral Sentiment: BlackRock signed an MoU with Mastercard and others to promote blockchain adoption in the Middle East — a strategic partnership that’s incremental for growth but not immediately material to earnings. PYMNTS article
• Neutral Sentiment: Eni sold a 49.99% stake in its carbon capture unit to GIP (BlackRock’s infrastructure fund) giving joint control — a sign of GIP deal activity and infrastructure exposure but limited immediate impact on BLK’s public earnings. Reuters
• Neutral Sentiment: Comparative valuation pieces (e.g., IVZ vs BLK) are circulating but don’t change fundamentals; useful for allocators weighing expense/return trade-offs. Zacks comparison
• Negative Sentiment: Deutsche Bank issued a pessimistic forecast for BLK’s stock, which likely contributed to selling pressure from model/quant funds and some institutional rebalancing. Deutsche Bank note
• Negative Sentiment: Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced expectations for BLK, adding to the negative analyst noise and pressuring sentiment. KBW note
• Negative Sentiment: Crypto flows: large spot-Bitcoin ETF inflows were reported (helpful) but BlackRock also moved BTC/ETH to exchanges for redemptions, sparking market volatility and headlines blaming BLK for short-term crypto declines — this fuels risk-off in ETFs and hurt sentiment. Blockonomi NewsBTC
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider selling activity has been reported recently, which can amplify downside as it raises governance/flow concerns among some investors. QuiverQuant insider summary

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,165.04, for a total value of $13,980,480.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,394,113.20. This represents a 62.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Martin Small sold 1,258 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,043.38, for a total value of $1,312,572.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 6,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,478,346.42. This represents a 16.85% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

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.