Principal Financial Group Inc. Decreases Stock Position in BlackRock $BLK

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 1.2% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 353,663 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 4,424 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $340,122,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in BlackRock by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,062,677 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $15,051,846,000 after purchasing an additional 221,123 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,264,545 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,705,193,000 after buying an additional 33,752 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 5,190.3% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,490,422 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,876,618,000 after buying an additional 5,386,640 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,197,904 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,563,524,000 after buying an additional 149,902 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,838,937 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,108,968,000 after buying an additional 12,019 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, President Robert Kapito sold 8,739 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,056.60, for a total value of $9,233,627.40. Following the transaction, the president owned 210,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $222,082,527.60. This represents a 3.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 33,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,050.55, for a total value of $35,613,645.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 230,516 shares in the company, valued at $242,168,583.80. This trade represents a 12.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 1.92% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BLK. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,430.00 to $1,383.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target 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. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,145.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday. UBS Group upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,235.00 to $1,270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised BlackRock from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,270.72.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.5%

BlackRock stock opened at $1,026.88 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.09, a current ratio of 4.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $1,033.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $1,042.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $159.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.78, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.43. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $917.39 and a 52-week high of $1,219.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 14th. The asset manager reported $12.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $12.40 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $6.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.56 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 24.40%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $9.64 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock will post 54.16 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th were given a dividend of $5.73 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.53%.

Trending Headlines about BlackRock

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock is expected to deliver another strong quarter, with Wall Street looking for Q2 EPS of $12.65 and revenue of $6.74 billion, both implying solid year-over-year growth and setting up a potentially favorable earnings reaction. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Investor demand for BlackRock’s cash-style ETF SGOV is surging, with assets nearing $100 billion, highlighting strong inflows into BlackRock’s ETF franchise and ongoing demand for its low-risk cash management products. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock’s tokenization and digital-asset initiatives are gaining traction, including BUIDL’s rapid asset growth and BlackRock’s role in a UK tokenization task force, reinforcing the company’s positioning in a fast-growing market. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: BlackRock continues to be discussed favorably in comparison pieces and ETF coverage, but these articles are more informational than stock-moving. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley lowered its price target on BlackRock to $1,383 from $1,430, but kept an overweight rating, so the signal is still positive overall despite slightly less upside. Article Title

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.