Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC Increases Stock Position in BlackRock $BLK

Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC raised its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 26.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,722 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 3,897 shares during the period. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $21,828,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. KCM Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% in the third quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,260 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,635,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 224 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $261,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the period. IFG Advisory LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 3,655 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,261,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Ames National Corp raised its position in BlackRock by 10.5% during the third quarter. Ames National Corp now owns 739 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $862,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Finally, JT Stratford LLC raised its position in BlackRock by 349.6% during the third quarter. JT Stratford LLC now owns 1,097 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,279,000 after acquiring an additional 853 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Martin Small sold 27,047 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,171.14, for a total transaction of $31,675,823.58. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 10,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,363,724.98. This trade represents a 71.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,190 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 51,478 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,971,514.62. This trade represents a 51.28% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 111,319 shares of company stock valued at $123,999,249. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of BLK stock opened at $1,049.46 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. BlackRock has a twelve month low of $773.74 and a twelve month high of $1,219.94. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $1,093.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $1,101.15. The stock has a market cap of $162.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.63, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.48.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $13.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 22.93% and a return on equity of 14.78%. BlackRock’s revenue was up 23.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $11.93 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th will be issued a $5.73 dividend. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.21. This represents a $22.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 58.84%.

BlackRock News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Large institutional tech win — Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo will extend use of BlackRock’s Aladdin Wealth to support international expansion, a clear enterprise-sale that reinforces recurring technology fees and cross-sell potential. Intesa Sanpaolo to adopt Aladdin Wealth
• Positive Sentiment: Crypto ETF inflows led by BlackRock’s IBIT — IBIT drew large daily inflows ($307M–$322M in recent days), driving multi-day net ETF flows that boost fee-bearing AUM and underscore BlackRock’s lead in spot-BTC ETF market share. This supports recurring ETF revenue if flows persist. Bitcoin ETFs record inflow streak
• Positive Sentiment: New product expansion — BlackRock launched the iShares Broad USD Floating Rate Loan ETF (USLN), its first index ETF for U.S. dollar leveraged loans, broadening product lineup and potential fee pools in a $1.4T market. Launch of USLN ETF
• Positive Sentiment: Infrastructure deal activity — BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners is leading a consortium to acquire AES in a ~$33.4B deal, signaling active alternatives dealmaking that can bolster private markets and carried-interest economics. BlackRock-led group to buy AES
• Neutral Sentiment: Strategic portfolio moves and product tweaks — BlackRock disclosed a >10% stake / 11.56% voting stake in Qiagen and signaled making target-date funds riskier between ages 45–60 (a product strategy change). These are notable for capital allocation and product positioning but have mixed, longer-term implications for flows. BlackRock stake in Qiagen
• Neutral Sentiment: Energy/infrastructure exposure reshaped — BlackRock bought into AES and exited Naturgy, reflecting a reallocation within energy/infrastructure holdings; important for long-term strategy but not an immediate earnings swing. Reshaping power exposure
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrade and sector weakness — Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded BLK from “moderate buy” to “moderate sell,” and financial stocks showed intraday weakness that put downward pressure on BLK shares. Downgrades and sector moves often trigger short-term selling. KBW downgrade / sector retreat
• Negative Sentiment: Crypto volatility and prior outflows — Earlier reports that IBIT/Bitcoin ETFs had shed large amounts of BTC (e.g., 42,000 BTC) highlight volatility in crypto AUM; while recent inflows offset some outflows, crypto AUM swings can compress fee growth and increase short-term revenue volatility. Bitcoin ETFs had major drawdowns

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLK has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group raised BlackRock from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $1,280.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,514.00 to $1,550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut shares of BlackRock from a “moderate buy” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday. BNP Paribas Exane upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,290.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,296.00 to $1,380.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,311.11.

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.