Hedge Funds Are Buying BlackRock, Inc. (BLK)

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) was in 32 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of March. BLK has experienced an increase in hedge fund interest lately. There were 28 hedge funds in our database with BLK positions at the end of the previous quarter.

At the moment, there are tons of indicators market participants can use to monitor publicly traded companies. A couple of the best are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best investment managers can beat their index-focused peers by a superb margin (see just how much).

Equally as beneficial, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the investments you’re interested in. Just as you’d expect, there are many reasons for an upper level exec to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would behave bullishly. Many academic studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this method if you know where to look (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, it’s important to take a gander at the latest action regarding BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK).

How have hedgies been trading BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)?

In preparation for this quarter, a total of 32 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 14% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes considerably.

According to our comprehensive database, Legg Mason Capital Management, managed by Bill Miller, holds the most valuable position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK). Legg Mason Capital Management has a $112.2 million position in the stock, comprising 2% of its 13F portfolio. On Legg Mason Capital Management’s heels is Capital Growth Management, managed by Ken Heebner, which held a $89.4 million position; the fund has 2.2% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedge funds that are bullish include Louis Bacon’s Moore Global Investments, Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.

As industrywide interest jumped, key hedge funds were breaking ground themselves. Capital Growth Management, managed by Ken Heebner, created the largest position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK). Capital Growth Management had 89.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Andrew Sandler’s Sandler Capital Management also made a $20.8 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Christopher Medlock James’s Partner Fund Management, Bart Baum’s Ionic Capital Management, and Mark Broach’s Manatuck Hill Partners.

Insider trading activity in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Bullish insider trading is best served when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past half-year. Over the last half-year time period, BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) has experienced 2 unique insiders purchasing, and 6 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also take a look at hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK). These stocks are T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW), The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE:BX), State Street Corporation (NYSE:STT), Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN), and The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE:BK). This group of stocks are the members of the asset management industry and their market caps match BLK’s market cap.

With the returns demonstrated by our strategies, everyday investors must always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.

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