Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Makes New $6.98 Million Investment in BlackRock $BLK

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 5,988 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $6,982,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pacifica Partners Inc. grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 18 shares during the period. TruNorth Capital Management LLC boosted its position in BlackRock by 1,000.0% during the third quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 22 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Traub Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Hopwood Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 866.7% in the third quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. now owns 29 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on BLK shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Barclays lifted 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded shares of BlackRock from a “moderate buy” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on BlackRock from $1,300.00 to $1,250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $1,351.00 price target on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday, January 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,308.89.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 5,293 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,084.22, for a total value of $5,738,776.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 46,185 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,074,700.70. This trade represents a 10.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 385 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,084.91, for a total transaction of $417,690.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,335 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,618,174.85. The trade was a 10.35% decrease in their position. 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 90 days. Insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

More BlackRock News

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Sonic Labs announced a Treasury‑backed USSD stablecoin that lists BlackRock and WisdomTree as treasury backers — a move that highlights BlackRock’s expanding role in tokenized real‑world assets and DeFi liquidity, which could support new fee pools and product distribution. Sonic Labs Unveils USSD Stablecoin
• Positive Sentiment: Growth in tokenized RWAs continues to accelerate and BlackRock’s BUIDL product leads tokenized Treasuries — an expansion that can diversify revenue beyond traditional ETF management. RWA Market Tops $24.9B
• Neutral Sentiment: Evercore trimmed its price target on BLK to $1,235 — a downgrade that reduces upside expectations but still sits above the current share price, so it’s a watch item rather than a game‑changer. Evercore Cuts BlackRock Price Target
• Neutral Sentiment: On‑chain activity: wallets linked to BlackRock moved ~2,200 BTC and ~2,417 ETH to Coinbase — likely operational/custody flows tied to spot ETF operations; notable for liquidity management but ambiguous for immediate P&L impact. BlackRock Transfers BTC and ETH to Coinbase
• Negative Sentiment: BlackRock capped withdrawals from its HPS Corporate Lending Fund after record redemption requests — the first time limits were hit; that raises concerns about private‑credit liquidity, possible writedowns and reputational risk for BLK’s alternative‑credit business. BlackRock Won’t Let Billionaires Cash Out
• Negative Sentiment: Broader private‑credit stress: reporting shows cracks in the private credit market (including surging outflows at peers), amplifying fears that redemption pressures could spread and hurt fee‑generating AUM. Private Credit Market Cracks
• Negative Sentiment: Legal risk: a shareholder law firm has launched an inquiry into BlackRock executives over potential securities claims — adds headline risk and could pressure sentiment if it develops. Johnson Fistel Investigation Notice
• Negative Sentiment: Crypto ETF flows swung from large inflows to outflows late last week (Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs), illustrating the volatility in crypto‑related AUM that can amplify fee variability for providers including BlackRock. Why Did Bitcoin Price Crash?

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $959.32 on Tuesday. 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 $149.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.48. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $1,086.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $1,097.83.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $13.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $12.55 by $0.61. The firm had revenue of $7.01 billion during 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 revenue was up 23.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $11.93 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a $5.73 dividend. 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. This represents a $22.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.71%.

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.