Strs Ohio Sells 1,393 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Strs Ohio trimmed its position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 43,072 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,393 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $46,102,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in BlackRock by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,062,677 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $15,051,846,000 after acquiring an additional 221,123 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its position in BlackRock by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,841,088 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,146,663,000 after acquiring an additional 10,591 shares in the last quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services boosted its position in BlackRock by 12,176.1% during the 4th quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services now owns 1,595,153 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,707,356,000 after acquiring an additional 1,582,159 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in BlackRock by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,213,561 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,414,854,000 after acquiring an additional 143,126 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in BlackRock by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 913,121 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,064,580,000 after acquiring an additional 39,412 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,083.05, for a total value of $2,166,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 61,980 shares in the company, valued at $67,127,439. The trade was a 3.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,087.29, for a total transaction of $58,920,245.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 51,478 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,971,514.62. The trade was a 51.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 106,911 shares of company stock worth $114,670,698 over the last 90 days. 1.92% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,368.00 to $1,393.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,296.00 to $1,380.00 in a report on Thursday, January 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,181.00 to $1,313.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,269.00 to $1,128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 13th. Finally, CICC Research lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,250.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,269.06.

Key Headlines Impacting BlackRock

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Rick Rieder (BlackRock’s CIO of global fixed income) told Barron’s Live he sees the U.S. economy as resilient and expressed a bullish view on stocks — a positive sentiment signal that can support investor appetite for BlackRock’s asset management products. Why BlackRock’s Rick Rieder Thinks the U.S. Economy Is Basically Recession-Proof
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock is flagging a “beyond AI” thematic rotation into utilities/infrastructure (HALO sectors) as part of its model trades — this guidance can influence portfolio flows and ETF positioning. BlackRock Just Flagged ‘Beyond’ AI Trade
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock’s iShares AI ETF has shown strong past returns (91% last year), highlighting the firm’s product-level success that can attract continued flows into iShares strategies. iShares’ AI ETF Returned 91% Last Year
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage noting Boston’s continued prominence as a money?management hub underscores industry concentration and talent/firm clustering but is unlikely to move BLK shares directly. Not So Fast, Texas. This City Manages Far More Money—and It’s Not New York.
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry peers (Blue Owl, Federated Hermes) reported solid AUM and revenue trends — a constructive backdrop for asset managers broadly but not an immediate BLK-specific catalyst. OWL Q1 Earnings Meet on Revenue & AUM Growth Federated Hermes Q1 Earnings Beat
• Neutral Sentiment: BlackRock executives (Rob Goldstein) warned certain “convenience?layer” SaaS firms face structural disruption from generative AI — important for asset allocation views but not an immediate earnings driver for BLK. Rob Goldstein: ‘Convenience?Layer’ SaaS Companies Are ‘In Trouble’ From AI
• Neutral Sentiment: Regulatory/portfolio filings: disclosure that BlackRock’s stake in Fagron crossed below a 3% threshold—routine transparency event with limited market impact. Disclosure of transparency notification
• Negative Sentiment: Outflows from Bitcoin ETFs after the Fed decision hit IBIT (~$167M outflow over the period), a direct negative for BlackRock’s crypto?ETF AUM and associated fee revenue in the near term. Bitcoin ETFs Lose Nearly Half A Billion Dollars
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: CEO Laurence Fink sold 33,900 shares (~$35.6M) and President Robert Kapito sold 8,739 shares recently — sizable disclosed sales that can weigh on near?term sentiment about insider conviction. Fink Form 4 Kapito Form 4

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK stock opened at $1,064.31 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $1,007.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $1,060.98. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $906.57 and a 52-week high of $1,219.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $165.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.71, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a current ratio of 2.98.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 14th. The asset manager reported $12.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $12.40 by $0.13. BlackRock had a net margin of 24.40% and a return on equity of 14.96%. The firm had revenue of $6.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.56 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $9.64 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 52.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.