Rafferty Asset Management LLC Sells 489 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Rafferty Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 47,930 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 489 shares during the quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $55,880,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Pacifica Partners Inc. raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 450.0% in the 3rd quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 22 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. TruNorth Capital Management LLC raised its position in BlackRock by 1,000.0% in the 3rd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 22 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Traub Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in BlackRock by 866.7% in the 3rd quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. now owns 29 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC boosted its position in BlackRock by 87.5% during the 2nd quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, CFO Martin Small sold 27,047 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 10,557 shares in the company, valued at $12,363,724.98. The trade was a 71.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Stephen Cohen sold 2,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,073.87, for a total transaction of $2,339,962.73. Following the sale, the director owned 6,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,026,331.41. This represents a 24.98% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 112,577 shares of company stock valued at $125,311,821 over the last 90 days. 1.98% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,290.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,300.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,244.00 to $1,267.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Freedom Capital raised BlackRock from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,311.11.

BlackRock News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock appointed Citi to provide select middle‑office services for roughly $4.0 trillion of U.S. iShares ETFs on the Aladdin platform — a scale partnership that should improve ETF processing and distribution efficiency and could help support ETF flows and fee revenue. BlackRock Appoints Citi to Provide Select ETF Middle Office Services on Aladdin
• Positive Sentiment: Spot crypto ETFs have shown renewed demand (multiple days of notable inflows, with BlackRock’s IBIT among leaders) — positive for BlackRock’s crypto product franchise and potential fee/revenue upside if flows persist. Spot Bitcoin ETFs take in $1B in three days as investors buy the dip
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock‑owned Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), working with EQT, is reported to be near a deal to acquire AES Corp — a sign that BlackRock’s alternatives platform is active in large, fee‑generating transactions. BlackRock’s GIP, EQT near deal to acquire AES Corp, Bloomberg News reports
• Neutral Sentiment: Regulatory filings show BlackRock has built an ~11% stake (about 12% voting power) in Qiagen — a portfolio move that is important for holdings disclosure but not necessarily material to BLK’s core earnings. BlackRock Builds 11% Stake and 12% Voting Power in Qiagen
• Neutral Sentiment: 13F/ownership notes (e.g., stake disclosure in IonQ) and smaller fund/structure moves keep BlackRock active across boutiques and ETFs but are largely informational for the firm’s diversified business. BlackRock Owns 24.3 Million Shares of IonQ. Here’s What That Really Tells You About Quantum Computing Stocks.
• Negative Sentiment: Quarterly results show revenue growth but reports indicate operating profit, net income and EPS fell YoY — margin pressure and weaker profit metrics are weighing on near‑term earnings visibility. BlackRock Inc. Releases Q4 2025 Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Reporting that BlackRock was duped into a $430M loan tied to fake invoices raises operational/reputational questions around credit controls — a headline that can amplify investor caution. BlackRock duped into loaning $430M to telecom entrepreneur who allegedly faked invoices
• Negative Sentiment: Ongoing insider selling by senior directors (recent Form 4 filings) is being watched by investors and can contribute to near‑term negative sentiment even if sales are for liquidity or option exercises. SEC Form 4 (insider sales)

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $1,062.70 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $164.88 billion, a PE ratio of 30.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.47. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $1,094.88 and a 200-day moving average of $1,103.55. BlackRock has a one year low of $773.74 and a one year high of $1,219.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 3.33 and a quick ratio of 3.33.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $13.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 $7.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.80 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $11.93 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue was up 23.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be paid a dividend of $5.73 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.21. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.84%.

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.