Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC Raises Position in BlackRock $BLK

Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 206.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 949 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 639 shares during the period. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,106,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BLK. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the second quarter worth approximately $2,644,007,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 105,267.4% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,705,899 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,789,915,000 after purchasing an additional 1,704,280 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in BlackRock by 72.5% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,005,358 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,104,122,000 after purchasing an additional 842,901 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 1,962.0% in the second quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 792,494 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $831,524,000 after buying an additional 754,060 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 29,043.2% in 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Key BlackRock News

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock and MSCI extended their long-term equity index licensing pact, preserving a steady revenue stream tied to index licensing and ETF indexing that supports recurring fees. MSCI, BlackRock extend long-term equity index licensing pact
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock co-led a $257M Series D for cell‑therapy automation company Cellares, showing continued private-market deal activity and growth in alternatives that can boost fee diversification and long‑term AUM. Cellares Raises $257 Million Series D Led by BlackRock and Eclipse
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock added Gregg R. Lemkau to its board, strengthening governance with an experienced investor whose network and deal expertise could aid strategic oversight. BlackRock Elects Gregg Lemkau to Board of Directors
• Neutral Sentiment: BlackRock disclosed it boosted its stake in Archer Aviation — a sign of conviction in selected private/public growth bets; this demonstrates active portfolio deployment but has limited near-term impact on BLK’s fee base. Did BlackRock Build A New Floor for Archer’s Stock Price?
• Neutral Sentiment: BlackRock filed for another Bitcoin ETF, expanding its crypto product lineup; filings signal potential future revenue and market share gains in digital-asset ETF flows but depend on approvals and investor adoption. BlackRock Drops Another Bitcoin ETF, But No Sign Of An XRP ETF
• Neutral Sentiment: Speculation that BlackRock’s Rick Rieder is a frontrunner for Fed chair keeps the firm in headlines; markets interpret his fixed‑income stature as a potential tailwind for rate-sensitive flows, though the development also raises governance and political scrutiny questions. The market thinks BlackRock’s Rick Rieder will be the next Fed chair
• Negative Sentiment: Critical commentary on BlackRock’s new covered‑call Bitcoin ETF warns of a crowded product market and potential investor misalignment; such criticism can temper enthusiasm for fee expansion in niche ETF strategies. BlackRock’s New Covered Call Bitcoin ETF Is Another Red Flag for a Dangerous Investing Trend
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent quarterly results showed an EPS beat but revenue below some estimates; AUM and revenue growth remain strong year‑over‑year, supporting investor confidence in fee durability despite mixed top‑line prints. BlackRock recent earnings summary

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the subject of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,300.00 to $1,250.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen raised BlackRock from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 17th. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,290.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,514.00 to $1,550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,314.71.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $1,121.17 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,083.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1,107.49. The company has a current ratio of 3.33, a quick ratio of 3.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market cap of $173.95 billion, a PE ratio of 31.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.47. BlackRock has a twelve month low of $773.74 and a twelve month high of $1,219.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $13.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $12.55 by $0.61. The company had revenue of $6.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.80 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 22.93% and a return on equity of 15.14%. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $11.93 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $5.73 per share. This represents a $22.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.21. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 58.84%.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other news, CFO Martin Small sold 27,047 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,171.14, for a total transaction of $31,675,823.58. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 10,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,363,724.98. This represents a 71.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,125.00, for a total transaction of $22,500,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,630,750. The trade was a 24.42% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 48,305 shares of company stock valued at $55,488,396 in the last quarter. 1.98% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.