Handelsbanken Fonder AB Has $68.64 Million Stake in BlackRock $BLK

Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 1.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 58,870 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,107 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $68,635,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pacifica Partners Inc. increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 450.0% in the third quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 22 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the period. TruNorth Capital Management LLC boosted its position in BlackRock by 1,000.0% during the 3rd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 22 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Traub Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Creekmur Asset Management LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 87.5% in the 2nd quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Finally, Howard Hughes Medical Institute bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the second quarter valued at $33,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, 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 approximately $69,630,750. This represents a 24.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Stephen Cohen sold 2,179 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,073.87, for a total value of $2,339,962.73. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,026,331.41. The trade was a 24.98% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 112,577 shares of company stock worth $125,311,821 over the last three months. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BlackRock News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Large spot Bitcoin ETF inflows — US spot Bitcoin ETFs including BlackRock’s IBIT pulled in heavy net flows (about $1B over three days), suggesting continued demand for BlackRock’s crypto ETF franchise and potential fee growth if flows persist. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Middle?office scale deal with Citi — BlackRock appointed Citi to provide select middle?office services for roughly $4T of U.S. iShares ETFs on Aladdin, a move that should improve processing efficiency and support ETF distribution. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades and optimism on evolving profit mix — recent coverage highlights UBS and other firms lifting ratings/targets as BlackRock expands alternatives, digital assets and ETF tech (supports longer?term earnings upside). Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Strategic investments into DeFi/AI ecosystems — participation in DeFi infrastructure deals and AI chip funding signals diversification into higher?growth areas that could boost future fee pools. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Debate over Bitcoin market microstructure — public pushback against claims that a single market maker (Jane Street) is manipulating daily BTC moves reduces single?counterparty risk concerns for BlackRock’s IBIT, but overall crypto volatility remains a flow driver. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Fund and trust reorganization news — smaller?company trust merger and a marginal stake change in BAWAG are operational updates with limited direct impact on BLK’s core results. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Q4 profit and cash?flow weakness — third?party summaries show revenue rose but operating profit, net income and EPS fell materially YoY, with operating cash flow down—raising near?term margin and profitability concerns. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Operational/reputational hit from a $430M loan fraud — reporting that BlackRock was duped into a $430M loan tied to alleged fake invoices creates risk around underwriting controls and could pressure sentiment until clarified. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Ongoing insider selling — recent director and senior?manager share sales (disclosed Form 4s) are being watched by investors and can weigh on sentiment even if they reflect routine liquidity or option exercises. Read More.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of BLK stock opened at $1,089.89 on Friday. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $773.74 and a fifty-two week high of $1,219.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 3.33 and a current ratio of 3.33. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,094.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1,104.00. The company has a market cap of $169.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.77, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.47.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $13.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $12.55 by $0.61. The company had revenue of $7.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.80 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 22.93% and a return on equity of 15.14%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $11.93 EPS. Research analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BLK. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Monday, December 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,244.00 to $1,267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $1,313.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Barclays upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,300.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,310.00 to $1,340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,311.11.

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.