719 Shares in BlackRock $BLK Purchased by Ameritas Advisory Services LLC

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 719 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $838,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.7% in the second quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 340 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $357,000 after buying an additional 9 shares in the last quarter. CNB Bank boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 9.6% during the 2nd quarter. CNB Bank now owns 103 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $108,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares in the last quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 14.3% during the 2nd quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 72 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares during the period. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% in the second quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 817 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $857,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares during the period. Finally, First Financial Bank Trust Division grew its position in BlackRock by 0.5% during the third quarter. First Financial Bank Trust Division now owns 1,794 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,092,000 after buying an additional 9 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BLK has been the topic of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $1,351.00 price target on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday, January 16th. BNP Paribas Exane upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,290.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,296.00 to $1,380.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Evercore dropped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,300.00 to $1,275.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,311.11.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK stock opened at $1,071.59 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $166.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a quick ratio of 3.33, a current ratio of 3.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $773.74 and a 52-week high of $1,219.94. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $1,093.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1,105.72.

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

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be issued a dividend of $5.73 per share. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.21. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 58.84%.

Key Stories Impacting BlackRock

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock formally expanded into DeFi by listing its tokenized Treasury fund (BUIDL) on Uniswap and enabling on‑chain trading — a strategic move that broadens distribution channels for BlackRock’s digital‑asset products and could support future fee/AUM growth. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Income and earnings fundamentals: company reporting and corporate actions (recent EPS beat and an increased quarterly dividend to $5.73) provide support for income‑oriented investors and justify parts of the stock’s elevated multiple. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: 13F / portfolio moves: recent SEC filings show large BlackRock fund repositioning (additions to IVV, MSFT, GOOGL, AMZN and new sizable positions in tickers like Q, SOLS, LXP) — signals scale and active management but are informational about fund flows rather than an immediate BLK earnings driver. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Routine ownership disclosures: filings around a ~5% voting stake in BAWAG Group were posted — standard large‑investor activity with limited direct impact on BlackRock’s core management fees. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: COO Robert Goldstein executed sizeable open‑market sales (Feb. 10–11; Form 4 filed). Large insider sales can weigh on near‑term sentiment even when they’re for diversification or tax planning. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Reported private‑credit loss: a WSJ report about a ~$400M loss linked to fake invoices in a BlackRock unit highlights execution and due‑diligence risk in private markets and can pressure the multiple investors assign to alternatives. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Crypto headwinds: weakening crypto prices, ETF outflows and reports that some BlackRock crypto portfolios have trimmed BTC/ETH exposure could limit near‑term AUM and fee growth from digital‑asset offerings despite the Uniswap announcement. Read More.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, CFO Martin Small sold 27,047 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,171.14, for a total value of $31,675,823.58. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 10,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,363,724.98. The trade was a 71.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,125.00, for a total transaction of $22,500,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,630,750. This trade represents a 24.42% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 109,967 shares of company stock valued at $122,487,380 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

About BlackRock

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.