Stephen Cohen Sells 2,179 Shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Stock

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Director Stephen Cohen sold 2,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,073.87, for a total value of $2,339,962.73. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,543 shares in the company, valued at $7,026,331.41. The trade was a 24.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $1,071.59 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. BlackRock has a twelve month low of $773.74 and a twelve month high of $1,219.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $166.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a 50 day moving average of $1,093.52 and a 200-day moving average of $1,105.72.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $13.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $12.55 by $0.61. BlackRock had a net margin of 22.93% and a return on equity of 15.14%. The business had revenue of $6.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $11.93 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 23.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be issued a $5.73 dividend. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.21. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 58.84%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,742,680,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position 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. Oak Harvest Investment Services lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 12,176.1% during the fourth quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services now owns 1,595,153 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,707,356,000 after buying an additional 1,582,159 shares in the last quarter. Blue Owl Capital Holdings LP bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,012,487,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 72.5% in the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,005,358 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,104,122,000 after acquiring an additional 842,901 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on BLK shares. TD Cowen cut shares of BlackRock from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,244.00 to $1,267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,514.00 to $1,550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. Evercore cut their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,300.00 to $1,275.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Finally, UBS Group set a $1,280.00 price target on BlackRock in a research report on Friday, January 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,311.11.

More BlackRock News

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.

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.