11,271 Shares in BlackRock $BLK Purchased by German American Bancorp Inc.

German American Bancorp Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 11,271 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $10,838,000. BlackRock makes up 0.8% of German American Bancorp Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,062,677 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $15,051,846,000 after purchasing an additional 221,123 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in BlackRock by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,264,545 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,705,193,000 after buying an additional 33,752 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 5,190.3% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,490,422 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,876,618,000 after buying an additional 5,386,640 shares during the period. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd increased its holdings in BlackRock by 4.7% in the first quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 5,330,492 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,126,387,000 after buying an additional 237,667 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in BlackRock by 0.7% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,232,973 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,032,603,000 after buying an additional 35,069 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.1%

BLK stock opened at $1,172.20 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $181.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.42. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,053.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1,042.51. The company has a quick ratio of 3.59, a current ratio of 3.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. BlackRock has a 52 week low of $917.39 and a 52 week high of $1,219.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $13.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $12.69 by $1.22. BlackRock had a net margin of 24.09% and a return on equity of 14.90%. The firm had revenue of $7.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.73 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $12.05 EPS. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 30.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 55.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $5.73 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $22.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of BlackRock from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $1,165.00 to $1,364.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,250.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Barclays upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,340.00 to $1,450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. BNP Paribas Exane increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,300.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,260.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a report on Monday, August 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,311.06.

Key Headlines Impacting BlackRock

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AI infrastructure financing could create a major growth opportunity. BlackRock is among the financial firms working with Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) and other partners to mobilize more than $500 billion for data centers, GPUs and related infrastructure. The initiative could generate fees from asset management, private credit and structured-finance products while broadening BlackRock’s role beyond traditional investing. NVIDIA’s $500 Billion GPU Financing Deal Fuels Path Toward $270
• Positive Sentiment: Scale and asset growth remain key strengths. Reports highlight approximately $15.3 trillion in assets under management, a 22% year-over-year AUM increase and improving profit margins. Continued growth in higher-margin ETFs and other products could support earnings and long-term shareholder returns. Larry Fink’s BlackRock Just Crossed $15.3 Trillion in Assets
• Neutral Sentiment: BlackRock-affiliated investors reportedly sold more than $16 million of Bitcoin and Ethereum, while Dartmouth’s holdings in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin ETF and other crypto ETFs declined in value. The developments reflect weaker crypto prices and could signal modest pressure on digital-asset flows, but they do not represent a direct sale of BlackRock’s corporate holdings. BlackRock ends the week dumping millions worth of these 2 cryptocurrencies
• Negative Sentiment: Competition is intensifying in ETFs. Corgi Invest plans to challenge BlackRock with a broad, low-fee lineup, while Goldman Sachs’ planned acquisition of NEOS would strengthen a rival Bitcoin income ETF platform.
• Negative Sentiment: Rosen Law Firm is investigating possible securities claims involving BlackRock mutual funds. The announcement is only an investigation—not a filed finding of wrongdoing—but it adds reputational and legal uncertainty. Rosen investor rights investigation

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.