Handelsbanken Fonder AB Has $68.64 Million Stock Holdings in BlackRock $BLK

Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its holdings in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 1.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 58,870 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 1,107 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $68,635,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pacifica Partners Inc. lifted its position 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 in the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1,000.0% in the third quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 22 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Traub Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Creekmur Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 87.5% during the second quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Howard Hughes Medical Institute bought a new stake in BlackRock during the second quarter worth $33,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting BlackRock

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Large spot Bitcoin ETF inflows — US spot Bitcoin ETFs including BlackRock’s IBIT pulled in heavy net flows (about $1B over three days), suggesting continued demand for BlackRock’s crypto ETF franchise and potential fee growth if flows persist. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Middle‑office scale deal with Citi — BlackRock appointed Citi to provide select middle‑office services for roughly $4T of U.S. iShares ETFs on Aladdin, a move that should improve processing efficiency and support ETF distribution. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades and optimism on evolving profit mix — recent coverage highlights UBS and other firms lifting ratings/targets as BlackRock expands alternatives, digital assets and ETF tech (supports longer‑term earnings upside). Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Strategic investments into DeFi/AI ecosystems — participation in DeFi infrastructure deals and AI chip funding signals diversification into higher‑growth areas that could boost future fee pools. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Debate over Bitcoin market microstructure — public pushback against claims that a single market maker (Jane Street) is manipulating daily BTC moves reduces single‑counterparty risk concerns for BlackRock’s IBIT, but overall crypto volatility remains a flow driver. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Fund and trust reorganization news — smaller‑company trust merger and a marginal stake change in BAWAG are operational updates with limited direct impact on BLK’s core results. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Q4 profit and cash‑flow weakness — third‑party summaries show revenue rose but operating profit, net income and EPS fell materially YoY, with operating cash flow down—raising near‑term margin and profitability concerns. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Operational/reputational hit from a $430M loan fraud — reporting that BlackRock was duped into a $430M loan tied to alleged fake invoices creates risk around underwriting controls and could pressure sentiment until clarified. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Ongoing insider selling — recent director and senior‑manager share sales (disclosed Form 4s) are being watched by investors and can weigh on sentiment even if they reflect routine liquidity or option exercises. Read More.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLK has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $1,313.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Evercore lowered their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,300.00 to $1,275.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 12th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,456.00 to $1,464.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of BlackRock from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, CICC Research lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,250.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,311.11.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Stephen Cohen sold 225 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,069.56, for a total transaction of $240,651.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,054,779.16. This represents a 3.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 5,293 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,084.22, for a total transaction of $5,738,776.46. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 46,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,074,700.70. This represents a 10.28% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 112,577 shares of company stock valued at $125,311,821. Corporate insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $1,089.89 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 3.33 and a current ratio of 3.33. The firm has a market cap of $169.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.47. BlackRock has a 52 week low of $773.74 and a 52 week high of $1,219.94. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $1,094.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $1,104.00.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $13.16 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $6.80 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 22.93% and a return on equity of 15.14%. The company’s revenue was up 23.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $11.93 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be paid a $5.73 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.21. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.84%.

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.