BlackRock $BLK Shares Bought by Clarity Financial LLC

Clarity Financial LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 92.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,343 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 7,355 shares during the quarter. BlackRock comprises 1.8% of Clarity Financial LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Clarity Financial LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $17,888,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BLK. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 5.4% in the third quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,078 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,589,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the period. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 759 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $885,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Abound Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 38.5% in the third quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 72 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 22.5% in the third quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 409 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $477,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 2.9% during the third quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC now owns 8,616 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,045,000 after buying an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,165.04, for a total transaction of $13,980,480.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 7,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,394,113.20. This represents a 62.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Martin Small sold 1,258 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,043.38, for a total value of $1,312,572.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 6,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,478,346.42. This represents a 16.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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: Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an Overweight rating, supporting demand expectations and giving BLK near-term analyst support. Morgan Stanley note
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock Canada cut management fees on several core iShares ETF portfolios (effective Dec. 18), which should help competitiveness and could lift AUM/flows in Canada. Fee cut press release
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street remains generally constructive: multiple recent buy/overweight ratings and above-consensus price targets point to continued analyst conviction in BLK’s long-term earnings power. Analyst notes summary
• Neutral Sentiment: BlackRock signed an MoU with Mastercard and others to promote blockchain adoption in the Middle East — a strategic partnership that’s incremental for growth but not immediately material to earnings. PYMNTS article
• Neutral Sentiment: Eni sold a 49.99% stake in its carbon capture unit to GIP (BlackRock’s infrastructure fund) giving joint control — a sign of GIP deal activity and infrastructure exposure but limited immediate impact on BLK’s public earnings. Reuters
• Neutral Sentiment: Comparative valuation pieces (e.g., IVZ vs BLK) are circulating but don’t change fundamentals; useful for allocators weighing expense/return trade-offs. Zacks comparison
• Negative Sentiment: Deutsche Bank issued a pessimistic forecast for BLK’s stock, which likely contributed to selling pressure from model/quant funds and some institutional rebalancing. Deutsche Bank note
• Negative Sentiment: Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced expectations for BLK, adding to the negative analyst noise and pressuring sentiment. KBW note
• Negative Sentiment: Crypto flows: large spot-Bitcoin ETF inflows were reported (helpful) but BlackRock also moved BTC/ETH to exchanges for redemptions, sparking market volatility and headlines blaming BLK for short-term crypto declines — this fuels risk-off in ETFs and hurt sentiment. Blockonomi NewsBTC
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider selling activity has been reported recently, which can amplify downside as it raises governance/flow concerns among some investors. QuiverQuant insider summary

BlackRock Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $1,059.34 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.33, a current ratio of 3.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a market capitalization of $164.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.47. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $773.74 and a 52-week high of $1,219.94. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $1,082.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1,091.48.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.78 by ($0.23). The company had revenue of $6.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.22 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.80% and a net margin of 26.64%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $11.46 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.59%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BLK shares. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,456.00 to $1,464.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,160.00 to $1,265.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,301.00 to $1,407.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $1,313.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,316.18.

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.