United Capital Financial Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 8,301 BlackRock $BLK

United Capital Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 8,301 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $7,982,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Advisors Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the second quarter worth $33,847,000. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 920,578 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $985,331,000 after purchasing an additional 7,457 shares during the last quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co acquired a new position in BlackRock during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,185,000. Haverford Trust Co acquired a new position in BlackRock during the 2nd quarter worth about $264,500,000. Finally, Liberty One Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 30.7% in the 1st quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC now owns 4,861 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,675,000 after buying an additional 1,141 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BLK shares. Weiss Ratings cut BlackRock from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Zacks Research cut BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded shares of BlackRock from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,270.00 to $1,320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,383.00 to $1,488.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,311.06.

Key BlackRock News

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock’s newer income-focused ETF is reportedly up 19% this year, compared with 10% for JPMorgan’s JEPQ, while charging the same fee. Strong relative performance could support additional iShares inflows and fee revenue. BlackRock ETF outperformance article
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock continues to highlight Bitcoin’s role as “digital gold” and a hedge against rising U.S. debt and deficits. Management also sees continued strength in Bitcoin, supporting the long-term case for cryptocurrency-related assets under management. BlackRock Bitcoin hedge case article
• Positive Sentiment: Adroit Trading Technologies is integrating its cross-asset execution tools with BlackRock’s Aladdin platform. The partnership may improve Aladdin’s functionality, client retention and potential technology-related revenue. Aladdin integration article
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock’s crypto portfolio reportedly gained more than $15 billion during August as Bitcoin and Ethereum rallied. The firm is also participating in an Nvidia-led effort tied to AI infrastructure, broadening potential future growth avenues beyond traditional asset management. BlackRock crypto and AI strategy article

BlackRock Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE:BLK opened at $1,167.69 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 3.59 and a quick ratio of 3.59. BlackRock has a one year low of $917.39 and a one year high of $1,219.94. The company has a market cap of $180.84 billion, a PE ratio of 27.91, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.42. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $1,077.50 and a 200-day moving average of $1,046.77.

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

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be paid a $5.73 dividend. 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 dividend payout ratio is 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.