Investment giant BlackRock has reduced its holdings in Israeli companies NICE Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq: NICE; TASE:NICE) and Wix.com Ltd. (Nasdaq: WIX), and increased its holding in SolarEdge Technologies (Nasdaq: SEDG).
At the end of 2022, BlackRock reported that it held a 5.1% stake in NICE Systems worth $718 million, after in its previous report in March 2022 it held 8.1% of the Israeli company's shares.
Israeli company NICE Systems, headed by CEO Barak Eilam, develops and markets technological solutions for customer relations and risks, and last night closed on Nasdaq and TASE with a market cap of $14.154 billion, after the share price fell 37% in 2022 but has risen 15.7% since the start of 2023.
During 2022 NICE's average share price was $202. Thus BlackRock sold shares for about $380 million, although the company is not obligated to report dates and prices of deals.
Over the same period, BlackRock also reduced its stake in Wix, which provides a platform for setting up and managing websites for small and medium sized businesses and is led by CEO Avishai Abrahami. At the end of 2022, BlackRock held a 6.5% stake in Wix, currently worth $337 million, after selling a 1% stake in the Israeli company in the months before the end of the year.
In February 2022, BlackRock held a 7.5% stake in Wix. Wix's share price fell 51% in 2022 and has risen 18% since the start of 2023. The average share price during the period that BlackRock sold its 1% stake in Wix was $75.80, thus the shares were likely sold for $44 million.
9.3% holding in SolarEdge
On the other hand, BlackRock increased its stake in SolarEdge, which develops and sells solar inverters for photovoltaic arrays, energy generation monitoring software, battery energy storage products. In april 2022, BlackRock reported holding an 8% stake in SolarEdge but at the end of 2022, it held 9.3% of the shares of the Israeli company, worth $1.66 billion. SolarEdge is currently traded on Nasdaq at a market cap of $18.088 billion, the second most valuable Israeli company after Mobileye Global Inc. (Nasdaq: MBLY) and ahead of Check Point Software Technologies (Nasdaq: CHKP).
During the period that BlackRock purchased additional shares, SolarEdge's share price moved between $196 and $365, so that at an average price BlackRock bought shares for $206 million. During 2022, SolarEdge's share price rose 1% and since the start of 2023, it has risen a further 12.8%.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on February 9, 2023.
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