OP Asset Management Ltd Takes $14.37 Million Position in BlackRock $BLK

OP Asset Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 14,937 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $14,365,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in BlackRock by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,062,677 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $15,051,846,000 after purchasing an additional 221,123 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew 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 period. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings 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 worth $5,876,618,000 after buying an additional 5,386,640 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 3.0% in the 4th 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 during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,838,937 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,108,968,000 after acquiring an additional 12,019 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 33,900 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,050.55, for a total transaction of $35,613,645.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 230,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 the SEC website. Also, President Robert Kapito sold 8,739 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,056.60, for a total transaction of $9,233,627.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the president owned 210,186 shares in the company, valued at $222,082,527.60. This represents a 3.99% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 1.92% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BlackRock News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock’s model portfolio team said a 1% to 2% Bitcoin allocation can be a reasonable diversifier, and related coverage highlights BlackRock’s growing role in digital assets, including support for institutional adoption of Bitcoin and the firm’s IBIT ETF. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock Canada announced final June cash distributions for the iShares Premium Money Market ETF, a routine fund-income update that reinforces steady ETF operations and product scale. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock’s Emergency Savings Initiative reported nearly $8 billion in savings generated and reach to more than 22 million Americans, highlighting another scale-driven, reputation-building initiative. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: BNP Paribas Exane raised its price target on BlackRock to $1,350 and kept an outperform rating, signaling continued analyst confidence. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: BlackRock also received additional media attention around Bitcoin and AI, but these headlines mostly reflect the firm’s evolving investment commentary rather than a direct financial catalyst for BLK stock.
• Negative Sentiment: Investor worries about private-credit redemptions appear to be weighing on sentiment, with BlackRock-linked redemption caps in some private-credit funds feeding broader concern about liquidity in the asset-management space. Article Title

BlackRock Stock Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $981.41 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $1,048.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $1,050.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $152.34 billion, a PE ratio of 24.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.42. 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 has a one year low of $917.39 and a one year high of $1,219.94.

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

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a dividend of $5.73 per share. This represents a $22.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on BLK. TD Cowen dropped their price target on BlackRock from $1,238.00 to $1,105.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,269.00 to $1,128.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of BlackRock from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. One equities research 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,267.39.

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.