Insider Selling: BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Director Sells $2,339,962.73 in Stock

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Director Stephen Cohen sold 2,179 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,073.87, for a total value of $2,339,962.73. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,026,331.41. The trade was a 24.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK opened at $1,071.59 on Monday. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $773.74 and a 1 year high of $1,219.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 3.33 and a quick ratio of 3.33. The company has a market capitalization of $166.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.47. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $1,093.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1,105.66.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $13.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $12.55 by $0.61. BlackRock had a net margin of 22.93% and a return on equity of 15.14%. The company had revenue of $6.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.80 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $11.93 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 23.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.21. This represents a $22.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.84%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackRock

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BLK. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 23.1% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,575 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,615,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 1,052 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. Altus Wealth Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the second quarter worth $215,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 1.4% during the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 33,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $35,457,000 after buying an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RFG Advisory LLC increased its stake in BlackRock by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 1,248 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,310,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,300.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,296.00 to $1,380.00 in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Wall Street Zen raised BlackRock from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 17th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $1,351.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane increased their price target 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,311.11.

Key Headlines 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.

BlackRock Company 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.