Ameritas Advisory Services LLC Invests $838,000 in BlackRock $BLK

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 719 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $838,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,644,007,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased 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 worth $1,789,915,000 after buying an additional 1,704,280 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 842,901 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1,962.0% in the second 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 acquiring an additional 754,060 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 244,253 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Trading Up 1.5%

NYSE:BLK opened at $1,071.59 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $166.26 billion, a PE ratio of 30.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 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 50 day moving average price is $1,093.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $1,105.72. The company has a quick ratio of 3.33, a current ratio of 3.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $13.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $12.55 by $0.61. The company had revenue of $6.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.80 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.14% and a net margin of 22.93%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $11.93 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on BLK shares. TD Cowen lowered BlackRock from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $1,351.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Loop Capital set a $1,255.00 price objective on BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,296.00 to $1,380.00 in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, UBS Group set a $1,280.00 price target on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday, January 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,311.11.

Key Stories Impacting BlackRock

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock formally expanded into DeFi by listing its tokenized Treasury fund (BUIDL) on Uniswap and enabling on‑chain trading — a strategic move that broadens distribution channels for BlackRock’s digital‑asset products and could support future fee/AUM growth. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Income and earnings fundamentals: company reporting and corporate actions (recent EPS beat and an increased quarterly dividend to $5.73) provide support for income‑oriented investors and justify parts of the stock’s elevated multiple. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: 13F / portfolio moves: recent SEC filings show large BlackRock fund repositioning (additions to IVV, MSFT, GOOGL, AMZN and new sizable positions in tickers like Q, SOLS, LXP) — signals scale and active management but are informational about fund flows rather than an immediate BLK earnings driver. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Routine ownership disclosures: filings around a ~5% voting stake in BAWAG Group were posted — standard large‑investor activity with limited direct impact on BlackRock’s core management fees. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: COO Robert Goldstein executed sizeable open‑market sales (Feb. 10–11; Form 4 filed). Large insider sales can weigh on near‑term sentiment even when they’re for diversification or tax planning. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Reported private‑credit loss: a WSJ report about a ~$400M loss linked to fake invoices in a BlackRock unit highlights execution and due‑diligence risk in private markets and can pressure the multiple investors assign to alternatives. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Crypto headwinds: weakening crypto prices, ETF outflows and reports that some BlackRock crypto portfolios have trimmed BTC/ETH exposure could limit near‑term AUM and fee growth from digital‑asset offerings despite the Uniswap announcement. Read More.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, CFO Martin Small sold 27,047 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 16th. The shares were 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 approximately $12,363,724.98. This represents a 71.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,190 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief operating officer owned 51,478 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,971,514.62. This trade represents a 51.28% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 109,967 shares of company stock valued at $122,487,380. Company insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock 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.