BlackRock $BLK Shares Sold by Clark Capital Management Group Inc.

Clark Capital Management Group Inc. reduced its stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 39.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 46,506 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 30,159 shares during the period. Clark Capital Management Group Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $49,777,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Shum Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Shum Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,183 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,336,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares during the last quarter. First Bancorp Inc ME boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. First Bancorp Inc ME now owns 321 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $344,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares during the last quarter. Rather & Kittrell Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Rather & Kittrell Inc. now owns 430 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $461,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares during the last quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 755 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $808,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tortoise Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 23.8% during the 3rd quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 52 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on BLK shares. Barclays boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,290.00 to $1,310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,351.00 to $1,199.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,238.00 to $1,105.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Evercore decreased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,140.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,264.61.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.9%

BLK opened at $1,051.81 on Wednesday. BlackRock has a one year low of $917.39 and a one year high of $1,219.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $163.27 billion, a PE ratio of 26.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.42. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $1,043.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $1,051.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a current ratio of 4.09.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 14th. The asset manager reported $12.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $12.40 by $0.13. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 24.40%.The firm had revenue of $6.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $9.64 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that BlackRock will post 52.8 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a $5.73 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $22.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 57.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, President Robert Kapito sold 8,739 shares of the business’s 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 value of $9,233,627.40. Following the sale, the president owned 210,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $222,082,527.60. The trade was a 3.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 33,900 shares of the business’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 directly owned 230,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $242,168,583.80. The trade was a 12.82% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 1.92% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Key BlackRock News

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock’s top investment executive, Rick Rieder, said Bitcoin is “ultimately going considerably higher,” reinforcing the firm’s bullish stance on digital assets and potentially boosting sentiment around BlackRock’s crypto-linked business opportunities.
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock remains in focus as a large asset manager with a steady dividend profile, with its next quarterly payout due soon, which can appeal to income-focused investors.
• Neutral Sentiment: BlackRock Canada announced product changes and risk-rating updates for several iShares ETFs, reflecting routine portfolio maintenance and index transitions rather than a major business shift.
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles highlighted BlackRock commentary on AI, private markets, and a broader market rotation out of cash, which may support the long-term investment case but do not directly change near-term fundamentals.
• Negative Sentiment: BlackRock is cutting nearly 200 jobs globally, part of a continued “rightsizing” effort tied to efficiency and growth initiatives; while modest in scale, the repeated layoffs may signal management is still trimming costs aggressively.

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.