BlackRock $BLK Shares Acquired by Aptus Capital Advisors LLC

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 4.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 32,051 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,510 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $37,367,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in BlackRock by 23.1% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,575 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,615,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 1,052 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,078,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the second quarter valued at approximately $259,000. Sigma Planning Corp raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.2% during the second quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 1,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,351,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, Crestwood Advisors Group LLC lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 7.6% during the second quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 1,992 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,090,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $1,032.31 on Friday. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $773.74 and a 12-month high of $1,219.94. 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 capitalization of $160.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.48. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,091.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1,100.67.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $13.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $12.55 by $0.61. The company had revenue of $7.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.80 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.78% and a net margin of 22.93%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $11.93 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be issued a $5.73 dividend. This represents a $22.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.21. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,190 shares of the business’s 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 in the company, valued at approximately $55,971,514.62. The trade was a 51.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Stephen Cohen sold 2,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,073.87, for a total transaction of $2,339,962.73. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,026,331.41. This trade represents a 24.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 111,319 shares of company stock worth $123,999,249. Company insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting BlackRock

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong Bitcoin ETF inflows into BlackRock’s IBIT continue to drive AUM and fee momentum—IBIT led with $307M of inflows as spot-Bitcoin ETFs posted multi-day inflow streaks. Bitcoin ETFs pull in $462M
• Positive Sentiment: Product expansion: BlackRock launched the iShares Broad USD Floating Rate Loan ETF (USLN), opening index-based access to the $1.4T U.S. leveraged loan market—adds a new ETF revenue stream and distribution opportunity. BlackRock Launches USLN ETF
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock is expanding its $52B iShares iBonds ETF franchise with nine new defined-maturity bond ETFs—helps capture fixed-income flows and bond-laddering demand. BlackRock Announces Plans to Expand iBonds
• Positive Sentiment: Aladdin win: Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo will extend use of BlackRock’s Aladdin Wealth for its international banks unit—an institutional tech deal that supports recurring licensing revenue and market penetration. Intesa Sanpaolo to adopt Aladdin Wealth
• Neutral Sentiment: Private markets repositioning: BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners is leading a consortium to buy AES for $33.4B while exiting Naturgy—strategic reshaping of energy/infrastructure exposure that may affect future private-asset earnings but has timing and execution risk. BlackRock-led group to buy AES
• Neutral Sentiment: Shareholdings updates: BlackRock disclosed stakes rising in OMV and Qiagen (crossed thresholds)—notable for proxy/activist watchers but unclear immediate earnings impact. BlackRock Lifts Stake in OMV BlackRock Lifts Stake in Qiagen
• Negative Sentiment: Private-credit write-down: BlackRock took a sudden mark on a loan tied to an Amazon aggregator, reviving transparency and valuation concerns in the private-credit market and raising near-term earnings/AUM volatility worries. BlackRock Write-Down Jolts Private Credit Markets
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrade: Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut BlackRock from “moderate buy” to “moderate sell,” which can pressure sentiment and short-term flows even as fundamentals remain mixed. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgrade noted

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group raised shares of BlackRock from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $1,280.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, February 23rd. TD Cowen cut shares of BlackRock from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $1,313.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Barclays upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,300.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Finally, Freedom Capital raised shares of BlackRock from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,311.11.

About BlackRock

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.