Acumen Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires 993 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Acumen Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 919.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,101 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 993 shares during the quarter. Acumen Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,059,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Magellan Asset Management Ltd grew its holdings in BlackRock by 16.9% during the 1st quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 76 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd increased its holdings in BlackRock by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 5,330,492 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,126,387,000 after purchasing an additional 237,667 shares in the last quarter. Danica Pension Livsforsikringsaktieselskab bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the first quarter worth about $12,469,000. Bellwether Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC now owns 242 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $233,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ABN Amro Investment Solutions grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 489.4% in the first quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions now owns 53,026 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $50,996,000 after buying an additional 44,030 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK opened at $1,037.31 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $160.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.79, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.43. 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 $1,032.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $1,042.37. BlackRock has a twelve month low of $917.39 and a twelve month high of $1,219.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.01% and a net margin of 24.09%.The company had revenue of $7.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $12.05 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that BlackRock will post 55.63 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a $5.73 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 54.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on BLK shares. BNP Paribas Exane raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,300.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,250.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $1,258.00 price target on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of BlackRock from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,304.29.

Key Headlines Impacting BlackRock

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock-led infrastructure vehicles completed the acquisition of Aligned Data Centers and are committing an additional $5 billion in growth capital, reinforcing BLK’s exposure to the AI buildout and alternative-asset fee opportunities. AIP, MGX and BlackRock’s GIP Close Acquisition of Aligned Data Centers
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock Canada announced monthly July cash distributions across a wide slate of iShares ETFs, underscoring the strength and recurring income appeal of its ETF franchise. BlackRock Canada Announces July Cash Distributions for the iShares ETFs
• Positive Sentiment: Investor interest in BlackRock’s Ethereum products remains strong, with reports of fresh inflows into ETHA and a new, similar ether fund that adds another monetizable product in digital assets. Forget ETHA. iShares’ Other Ether Fund Is Nearly Identical, Except It Pays You
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Larry Fink’s comments that AI growth is constrained by electricity, plus New York’s data-center moratorium, keep attention on power bottlenecks for the AI infrastructure theme BlackRock is investing behind. Larry Fink Says AI Needs More Electricity. Google Is Trying To Need Less Of It.
• Neutral Sentiment: BlackRock’s ETF and asset-management announcements, including distribution updates and product coverage, are broadly supportive but not likely to move the stock on their own. BlackRock® Canada Announces July Cash Distributions for the iShares® ETFs
• Negative Sentiment: Some recent headlines note BlackRock reducing a few holdings and broader financial-sector weakness, which may add mild pressure, but these appear less important than the positive infrastructure and ETF news. Major Shareholder Announcement

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 33,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 230,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $242,168,583.80. The trade was a 12.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, President Robert Kapito sold 8,739 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the president owned 210,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $222,082,527.60. This trade represents a 3.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 1.92% of the company’s stock.

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.