Flagship Capital Management Inc. Purchases Shares of 4,049 BlackRock $BLK

Flagship Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 4,049 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $4,334,000. BlackRock makes up about 3.1% of Flagship Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,841,088 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,146,663,000 after acquiring an additional 10,591 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,213,561 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,414,854,000 after buying an additional 143,126 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 913,121 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,064,580,000 after buying an additional 39,412 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1,962.0% during the 2nd quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 792,494 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $831,524,000 after buying an additional 754,060 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Viking Global Investors LP raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 217.5% during the 3rd quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 619,492 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $722,247,000 after buying an additional 424,388 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $1,002.98 on Friday. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $1,018.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $1,072.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $156.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.48. BlackRock has a one year low of $833.09 and a one 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 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $12.55 by $0.61. The business had revenue of $7.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.80 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.78% and a net margin of 22.93%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $11.93 EPS. Analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 6th were given a $5.73 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 6th. This represents a $22.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.21. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 64.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Martin Small sold 27,047 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 10,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,363,724.98. The trade was a 71.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 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 transaction, the director directly owned 6,543 shares in the company, valued at $7,026,331.41. This trade represents a 24.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 111,319 shares of company stock valued at $123,999,249 over the last three months. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BLK. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday, March 27th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,238.00 to $1,105.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Freedom Capital raised BlackRock from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,296.00 to $1,380.00 in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,340.00 to $1,150.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,260.83.

More BlackRock News

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Large institutional ETH buy and staking support — BlackRock reportedly purchased $60.8M of Ether for its ETF on April 7, the biggest single‑day ETH ETF buy in months, signalling continued institutional demand for its crypto products and potential AUM inflows. Blockonomi: Ethereum price prediction / BlackRock ETH buy
• Positive Sentiment: ETHB product expansion — BlackRock added Galaxy Digital as an approved validator for its iShares Staked Ethereum Trust (ETHB), broadening institutional validator relationships and supporting staking capacity for a growing crypto ETF. Blockonomi: BlackRock adds Galaxy Digital to ETHB
• Positive Sentiment: Move into Nasdaq‑100 ETF market — BlackRock filed to launch Nasdaq‑100 ETFs to directly challenge Invesco’s QQQ, a move that could capture fee‑sensitive flows and expand ETF distribution if competitive pricing gains traction. Benzinga: BlackRock challenges Invesco QQQ
• Neutral Sentiment: Q1 earnings focus — Wall Street is publishing detailed forecasts for BlackRock’s March quarter (AUM, revenue, fees) ahead of the April 14 report; investors should watch net flows and fee mix for signs of momentum or headwinds. Yahoo Finance: Countdown to BLK Q1 earnings
• Positive Sentiment: Resilience vs. peers — Coverage (WSJ/analysis) highlights BlackRock’s diversified index and active business helping it weather stresses in private credit better than some rivals, supporting relative valuation and investor confidence. WSJ: Why BlackRock is weathering private credit storm
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts trimming price targets — Multiple brokers (Barclays, Jefferies, KBW, TD Cowen, UBS, Goldman) have reduced Blk price targets this week, reflecting lowered expectations for near‑term earnings and tempering upside. MarketScreener: TD Cowen adjusts BlackRock PT
• Negative Sentiment: Legal inquiry announced — Pomerantz law firm has opened an investor investigation into BlackRock, introducing potential litigation risk and headline volatility. PR Newswire: Pomerantz investigation
• Negative Sentiment: Crypto outflows and margin pressure — BlackRock reported significant on‑chain crypto value declines and over $20B in crypto outflows in Q1, and management warned that macro/inflation effects could make prior earnings forecasts optimistic. Those trends can pressure fee revenue from crypto and active strategies. Finbold: BlackRock crypto outflows

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.