UBS Group Cuts BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Price Target to $1,235.00

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) had its price target lowered by UBS Group from $1,280.00 to $1,235.00 in a report published on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Evercore lowered their price objective on BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,235.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 6th. BNP Paribas Exane upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,290.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on BlackRock from $1,550.00 to $1,368.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Bank of America upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,456.00 to $1,464.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on BlackRock from $1,340.00 to $1,150.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,255.00.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $999.42 on Thursday. BlackRock has a twelve month low of $840.50 and a twelve month high of $1,219.94. The company’s 50 day moving average is $1,016.00 and its 200 day moving average is $1,071.03. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The company has a market cap of $155.45 billion, a PE ratio of 28.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.48.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $13.16 earnings per share 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 14.78%. The company had revenue of $7.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $11.93 EPS. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 23.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 6th were given a dividend of $5.73 per share. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.21. 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%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 64.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,190 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief operating officer owned 51,478 shares in the company, valued at $55,971,514.62. This trade represents a 51.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Martin Small sold 27,047 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 10,557 shares in the company, valued at $12,363,724.98. This trade represents a 71.93% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 111,319 shares of company stock worth $123,999,249. Corporate insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Purpose Unlimited Inc. purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $459,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 32.9% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 216,566 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $231,800,000 after buying an additional 53,657 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 3,932 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,210,000 after buying an additional 370 shares in the last quarter. ARP Global Capital Ltd purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $9,633,000. Finally, Larry Mathis Financial Planning LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $467,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Big inflows into BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF signal continued demand for its crypto ETF franchise — Cointelegraph reports $269M flowed into the iShares Bitcoin Trust in a single day, helping stabilize ETF flows and AUM dynamics. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock is expanding its crypto and staking infrastructure (largest single-day ETH buys reported; added Galaxy Digital as an ETHB validator), which supports growth of fee-bearing, differentiated ETF products. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Product innovation: CNBC highlights BlackRock applying hedge‑fund long/short strategies to liquid alternative ETFs — this could attract higher‑margin flows and broader client demand. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Strategic moves: BlackRock’s infrastructure arm is reportedly eyeing Associated British Ports — a sign of continued private markets deployment that can diversify fee streams but would be capital‑intensive and long‑dated. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Dividend and income positioning: several pieces (Yahoo/Zacks/TipRanks) highlight BLK as an attractive dividend stock and point to high‑yield BlackRock dividend ETFs — supportive for long‑term investor demand but not an immediate catalyst. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Concentrated analyst pressure: multiple firms trimmed targets/ratings this week (UBS, TD Cowen, Evercore, BMO among them), reducing upside expectations and amplifying near‑term selling pressure. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Investor litigation risk: Pomerantz announced an investigation into BlackRock on April 9 — legal actions or settlements could create headline risk and uncertainty for shareholders. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Management caution: BlackRock’s Helen Jewell warned that earnings estimates may be overly optimistic amid inflationary pressures from geopolitical events — increased guidance risk ahead of Q1 results. Article Title

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.