BlackRock Health Sciences - BME STOCK NEWS

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) has announced that Chairman and CEO Laurence D. Fink will be presenting at the 2025 RBC Capital Markets Global Financial Institutions Conference. The presentation is scheduled for March 4th, 2025, starting at approximately 12:20 p.m. ET.

Investors and interested parties can access a live webcast of the presentation through the 'Investor Relations' section of BlackRock's website. The recorded webcast will be made available for replay within 24 hours after the presentation and will remain accessible on the company's website for three months.

BlackRock and the Bipartisan Policy Center are launching the 2025 Retirement Summit in Washington D.C., following alarming survey results about Americans' retirement readiness. The survey of 1,000 registered voters revealed that one-third have no retirement savings, and 51% fear running out of money in retirement more than death.

Key findings show that 56% worry about personal finances daily, and only 28% believe working Americans have adequate retirement planning tools. Notably, 80% want Congress to prioritize retirement security legislation.

The Summit, themed 'Redefining Retirement: It's All of our Work,' will convene over 250 leaders on March 12, including prominent figures like Senators Cory Booker and Katie Britt, and business leaders like Jamie Dimon. BlackRock's LifePath Paycheck™ solution has reached $16 billion in assets under management, and the firm has appointed Jaime Magyera as senior sponsor for retirement to address the growing retirement savings gap.

BlackRock has announced the conversion of its High Yield Municipal Fund into the iShares® High Yield Muni Active ETF (HIMU), aiming to maximize federal tax-exempt current income and capital appreciation through high-yield municipal securities investments. The ETF maintains identical investment objectives as its predecessor mutual fund, which has delivered top quartile performance over multiple periods since its 2006 launch.

The fund leverages BlackRock's Municipal Bond Group, which manages over $182 billion in assets across diverse strategies. The conversion aligns with BlackRock's broader active ETF strategy, with the company managing $37 billion across 50 active ETFs in the U.S. BlackRock projects global active ETF assets to reach $4 trillion by 2030, up from $900 billion through June 2024.

BlackRock has launched the iShares BBB-B CLO Active ETF (Nasdaq: BCLO), expanding its active ETF platform. The new fund focuses on investing in CLOs rated BBB+ to B-, aiming to provide capital preservation and current income. BCLO is managed by BlackRock's CLO investment team, which oversees over $30 billion in assets globally.

The ETF comes with a total expense ratio of 0.45% and will be benchmarked against the JP Morgan CLO High Quality Mezzanine Index. The launch aligns with BlackRock's projection that global active ETF assets under management will reach $4 trillion by 2030. The company currently manages $37 billion across over 40 active ETFs in the U.S.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) has announced that its Board of Directors has approved a 2% increase in the quarterly cash dividend. The new dividend amount will be $5.21 per share of common stock. This dividend will be payable on March 24, 2025, to shareholders who are on record at the close of business on March 7, 2025.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) has announced that Chief Financial Officer Martin S. Small will be presenting at the 2025 Bank of America Securities Financial Services Conference. The presentation is scheduled for February 11th, 2025, starting at approximately 9:40 a.m. ET.

Interested parties can access a live webcast of the presentation through the 'Investor Relations' section of BlackRock's website. The recording will be made available within 24 hours after the presentation and will remain accessible on the company's website for three months.

BlackRock has launched the iShares Large Cap Accelerated ETF (TWOX), expanding its outcome-oriented ETF suite. The new ETF aims to provide approximately twice the upside price return of the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) up to an approximate cap of 5.82%, while tracking IVV's downside price return when held for an entire outcome period.

The outcome-oriented ETFs market has grown significantly from $5bn to over $160bn in the past five years. TWOX represents BlackRock's first accelerated return-focused strategy, designed to help investors seek enhanced returns in a moderate growth environment. The ETF combines an underlying ETF with options to create an 'acceleration zone' for higher return potential.

The fund has an expense ratio of 0.53% (gross) and 0.50% (net), with a fee waiver in effect until November 2030. The outcome period resets quarterly, during which the cap will adjust according to market conditions.

BlackRock (NYSE: BLK) reported strong financial results for Q4 and full year 2024, with record-breaking performance across key metrics. The company achieved $11.6 trillion in AUM, driven by record net inflows of $641 billion for the full year, including $281 billion in Q4.

Full-year revenue increased 14% to over $20 billion, while operating income grew 21% (23% as adjusted). The company reported full-year diluted EPS of $42.01, or $43.61 as adjusted, marking a 15% increase. BlackRock maintained strong shareholder returns, distributing $4.7 billion to shareholders, including $1.6 billion in share repurchases.

The company's strategic expansion continued with the GIP transaction completion and planned acquisitions of HPS Investment Partners and Preqin. These moves are expected to enhance private markets capabilities, with HPS adding approximately $220 billion in pro-forma client assets. The company achieved a 44.5% adjusted operating margin, up 280 basis points from 2023.

BlackRock's LifePath Paycheck™ has emerged as the fastest-growing lifetime income target-date strategy in the defined contribution market, accumulating $16B in assets under management since its April 2024 launch. The solution, now implemented across six employer retirement plans including Avangrid, Adventist HealthCare, Tennessee Valley Retirement System, and BlackRock itself, provides guaranteed lifetime income options to over 200,000 eligible U.S. workers.

The program allows plan participants to access guaranteed income starting at age 59½ through annuity contracts issued by Equitable and Brighthouse Financial. The solution is available on Fidelity Investments and Bank of America platforms, with Voya Financial planning to add support. Notably, the solution addresses a critical need, as BlackRock's Read on Retirement® survey reveals that 60% of workers worry about outliving their retirement savings, and 99% value guaranteed retirement income.