USS Investment Management Ltd Boosts Stake in BlackRock $BLK

USS Investment Management Ltd grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 5.1% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 25,526 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,247 shares during the period. USS Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $24,554,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Birchbrook Inc. purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Basepoint Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Swiss RE Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price 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 shares of BlackRock from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,235.00 to $1,270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,351.00 to $1,199.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,393.00 to $1,430.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. One investment 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,269.44.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 33,900 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 230,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $242,168,583.80. The trade was a 12.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, President Robert Kapito sold 8,739 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 27th. The shares were 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. This represents a 3.99% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 1.92% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BLK stock opened at $959.52 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 4.09, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a market cap of $148.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.42. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $917.39 and a 12-month high of $1,219.94. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $1,041.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1,047.86.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 14th. The asset manager reported $12.53 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $12.40 by $0.13. BlackRock had a net margin of 24.40% and a return on equity of 14.74%. The firm had revenue of $6.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $9.64 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that BlackRock will post 53.18 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th were given a $5.73 dividend. This represents a $22.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.53%.

More BlackRock News

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock is helping launch Open USD, a new stablecoin backed by major firms including Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, BNY Mellon, Coinbase and BlackRock. Investors may see this as a strategic move to deepen BlackRock’s presence in crypto infrastructure and tokenized finance. Article: Stripe, Visa, BlackRock Back New Open USD Stablecoin In Bid To Challenge Tether, Circle
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock’s Aladdin platform is being integrated more deeply with Ethena’s tokenized dollar products, reinforcing BlackRock’s push into blockchain-based institutional finance and broadening the ecosystem around its platforms. Article: BlackRock’s Aladdin Platform Expands Integration with Ethena’s Tokenized Dollar Suite
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock registered shares related to its HPS deal consideration, a procedural step that suggests progress on a strategic acquisition/investment initiative rather than a setback. Article: BlackRock Registers Shares for HPS Deal Consideration
• Neutral Sentiment: BlackRock’s investment outlook turned cautious on emerging-market equities while upgrading euro bonds, reflecting a portfolio positioning shift that may not directly affect earnings but could influence sentiment around its market views and product flows. Article: BlackRock turns cautious on emerging markets, upgrades euro bonds
• Neutral Sentiment: Several reports showed outflows and rebalancing in BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF IBIT, which may weigh on crypto-related sentiment, but the flow data appears tied to broader ETF rotation rather than a BlackRock-specific problem. Article: BlackRock’s IBIT Sees $300M Outflow As Bitcoin ETF Rebalancing Deepens
• Negative Sentiment: Broader Bitcoin ETF weakness and a reported worst month for U.S. spot Bitcoin funds could pressure sentiment around BlackRock’s crypto ETF business if outflows continue, even though this is more about the category than BLK itself. Article: Bitcoin ETFs Set for Worst Month With $4 Billion in Outflows

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.