Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC Purchases 3,897 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 26.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 18,722 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,897 shares during the period. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $21,828,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,644,007,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in BlackRock by 105,267.4% during the second 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. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 72.5% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,005,358 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,104,122,000 after purchasing an additional 842,901 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1,962.0% in the 2nd quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 792,494 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $831,524,000 after purchasing an additional 754,060 shares during the period. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its stake in BlackRock by 29,043.2% during the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 245,094 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $285,748,000 after buying an additional 244,253 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting BlackRock

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Large institutional tech win — Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo will extend use of BlackRock’s Aladdin Wealth to support international expansion, a clear enterprise-sale that reinforces recurring technology fees and cross-sell potential. Intesa Sanpaolo to adopt Aladdin Wealth
• Positive Sentiment: Crypto ETF inflows led by BlackRock’s IBIT — IBIT drew large daily inflows ($307M–$322M in recent days), driving multi-day net ETF flows that boost fee-bearing AUM and underscore BlackRock’s lead in spot-BTC ETF market share. This supports recurring ETF revenue if flows persist. Bitcoin ETFs record inflow streak
• Positive Sentiment: New product expansion — BlackRock launched the iShares Broad USD Floating Rate Loan ETF (USLN), its first index ETF for U.S. dollar leveraged loans, broadening product lineup and potential fee pools in a $1.4T market. Launch of USLN ETF
• Positive Sentiment: Infrastructure deal activity — BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners is leading a consortium to acquire AES in a ~$33.4B deal, signaling active alternatives dealmaking that can bolster private markets and carried-interest economics. BlackRock-led group to buy AES
• Neutral Sentiment: Strategic portfolio moves and product tweaks — BlackRock disclosed a >10% stake / 11.56% voting stake in Qiagen and signaled making target-date funds riskier between ages 45–60 (a product strategy change). These are notable for capital allocation and product positioning but have mixed, longer-term implications for flows. BlackRock stake in Qiagen
• Neutral Sentiment: Energy/infrastructure exposure reshaped — BlackRock bought into AES and exited Naturgy, reflecting a reallocation within energy/infrastructure holdings; important for long-term strategy but not an immediate earnings swing. Reshaping power exposure
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrade and sector weakness — Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded BLK from “moderate buy” to “moderate sell,” and financial stocks showed intraday weakness that put downward pressure on BLK shares. Downgrades and sector moves often trigger short-term selling. KBW downgrade / sector retreat
• Negative Sentiment: Crypto volatility and prior outflows — Earlier reports that IBIT/Bitcoin ETFs had shed large amounts of BTC (e.g., 42,000 BTC) highlight volatility in crypto AUM; while recent inflows offset some outflows, crypto AUM swings can compress fee growth and increase short-term revenue volatility. Bitcoin ETFs had major drawdowns

BlackRock Stock Down 0.3%

NYSE:BLK opened at $1,049.46 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The firm has a market cap of $162.82 billion, a PE ratio of 29.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a 50-day moving average of $1,093.04 and a 200 day moving average of $1,101.15. BlackRock has a 1-year low of $773.74 and a 1-year high of $1,219.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $13.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 14.78%. The company’s revenue was up 23.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $11.93 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $5.73 per share. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.21. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.84%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BLK shares. TD Cowen lowered shares of BlackRock from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,244.00 to $1,267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,290.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $1,351.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,300.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,311.11.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 385 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,084.91, for a total transaction of $417,690.35. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,335 shares in the company, valued at $3,618,174.85. This represents a 10.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Martin Small sold 27,047 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Friday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,171.14, for a total transaction of $31,675,823.58. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 10,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,363,724.98. The trade was a 71.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 111,319 shares of company stock valued at $123,999,249 in the last ninety days. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.