Freestone Grove Partners LP Invests $71.66 Million in BlackRock $BLK

Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 74,523 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $71,658,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $210,393,000. Odyssean LLC lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 99.1% in the 2nd quarter. Odyssean LLC now owns 2,881 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,770,000 after purchasing an additional 1,434 shares during the period. Western Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,774,000. Invst LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,140,000. Finally, First Bancorp Inc ME acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the second quarter worth $305,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of BlackRock from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. BNP Paribas Exane increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,300.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Zacks Research raised BlackRock from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,298.00 to $1,320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered BlackRock from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, BlackRock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $1,311.06.

More BlackRock News

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has processed more than $5 billion in tax-deferred conversions from directly held Bitcoin. Reducing the minimum conversion size from $25 million to $1 million could make the product accessible to more wealthy investors and institutions, potentially supporting assets under management and fee revenue. However, these transactions transfer existing Bitcoin into the ETF rather than representing equivalent new cash inflows. Bitcoin to $100K? BlackRock’s $5B ETF Shift Pulls More BTC Into Wall Street
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street analysts remain broadly optimistic about BlackRock’s growth prospects and target price, despite the shares’ strong multiyear advance. What Are Wall Street Analysts’ Target Price for BlackRock Stock?
• Neutral Sentiment: BlackRock named Jessica Tan to lead its global product unit, a management change that could influence future product development and distribution but whose financial impact is not yet clear. BlackRock names Jessica Tan to head global product unit
• Neutral Sentiment: The company announced final August cash distributions for the iShares Premium Money Market ETF. The announcement is routine and primarily affects fund investors rather than BlackRock’s corporate earnings. BlackRock Canada Announces Final August Cash Distributions
• Negative Sentiment: Rosen Law Firm said it is investigating potential securities claims involving BlackRock mutual funds, alleging that the company may have issued materially misleading business information. The announcement does not establish wrongdoing, but it introduces potential legal, reputational and financial risk. BlackRock Investor News: Rosen Law Firm Investigation
• Negative Sentiment: One valuation review says BlackRock now trades near fair value on intrinsic estimates and looks expensive on earnings multiples after an approximately 82% three-year return, limiting near-term upside unless earnings and fee growth accelerate. BlackRock Stock Looks Fully Valued After an 82% Run

BlackRock Trading Down 0.2%

BLK opened at $1,174.17 on Thursday. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $917.39 and a fifty-two week high of $1,219.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $181.84 billion, a PE ratio of 28.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 3.59 and a quick ratio of 3.59. The company’s 50-day moving average is $1,075.18 and its 200 day moving average is $1,045.98.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $13.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $12.69 by $1.22. The business had revenue of $7.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.73 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.90% and a net margin of 24.09%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 30.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $12.05 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that BlackRock will post 55.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $5.73 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 54.78%.

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.