Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC Takes $679,000 Position in BlackRock $BLK

Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 583 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $679,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.7% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,991,264 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $14,680,334,000 after buying an additional 227,192 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,143,429 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,281,641,000 after acquiring an additional 34,049 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in BlackRock in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,644,007,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in BlackRock by 72.5% in 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 period. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised 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 valued at $1,789,915,000 after purchasing an additional 1,704,280 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 385 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,084.91, for a total transaction of $417,690.35. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,335 shares in the company, valued at $3,618,174.85. This trade represents a 10.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Martin Small sold 27,047 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 16th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $12,363,724.98. This represents a 71.93% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 112,577 shares of company stock valued at $125,311,821. Company insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,296.00 to $1,380.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Barclays raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,300.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $1,313.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. TD Cowen cut shares of BlackRock from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,290.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,311.11.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $1,089.89 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,094.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1,104.00. BlackRock has a 52 week low of $773.74 and a 52 week high of $1,219.94. The stock has a market cap of $169.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.77, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 3.33 and a current ratio of 3.33.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $13.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $12.55 by $0.61. The firm had revenue of $7.01 billion during 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%. The company’s revenue was up 23.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $11.93 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th will be paid a $5.73 dividend. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.21. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.84%.

More BlackRock News

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 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.