Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Grows Position in BlackRock $BLK

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 94.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 26,828 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,040 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in BlackRock were worth $28,720,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BLK. Oak Harvest Investment Services increased its position in BlackRock by 12,176.1% during the fourth quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services now owns 1,595,153 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,707,356,000 after buying an additional 1,582,159 shares in the last quarter. Viking Global Investors LP increased its position in BlackRock by 217.5% during the third quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 619,492 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $722,247,000 after buying an additional 424,388 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its position in BlackRock by 29,043.2% during the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 245,094 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $285,748,000 after buying an additional 244,253 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position 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 buying an additional 221,123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its position in BlackRock by 39.5% during the third quarter. Amundi now owns 547,249 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $645,354,000 after buying an additional 154,907 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Key BlackRock News

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock’s GIP unit is teaming with Temasek and Abu Dhabi-linked investors to target up to $30 billion in infrastructure deals, a sign that the firm continues to expand its alternative-investments platform and fee-earning asset base. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan increased its holdings of BlackRock’s IBIT Bitcoin ETF by 174%, reinforcing institutional demand for BlackRock’s crypto-linked products and supporting the company’s ETF growth story. Cointelegraph article
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock is also being highlighted for income-focused ETF demand, with several high-yield iShares funds offering yields above 6%, which may keep assets flowing into its ETF franchise. TipRanks article

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on BLK. Weiss Ratings upgraded BlackRock from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday. 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. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,220.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,269.00 to $1,128.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,269.06.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, Director Stephen Cohen sold 225 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,069.56, for a total value of $240,651.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 5,661 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,054,779.16. This trade represents a 3.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 230,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $242,168,583.80. This represents a 12.82% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 45,249 shares of company stock worth $47,671,714 over the last ninety days. 1.92% of the stock is owned by insiders.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $1,081.49 on Monday. BlackRock has a twelve month low of $917.39 and a twelve month high of $1,219.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $167.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.15, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a current ratio of 4.09, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $1,009.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $1,055.04.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 14th. The asset manager reported $12.53 earnings per share 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 quarter last year, the firm earned $9.64 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 52.77 earnings per share for the current year.

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.