Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC Makes New $679,000 Investment in BlackRock $BLK

Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC bought a new position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 583 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $679,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of BLK. Westerkirk Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,877,000. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey boosted its stake in BlackRock by 7.9% in the second quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 23,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $24,308,000 after acquiring an additional 1,693 shares during the period. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter valued at approximately $6,201,000. Lingohr Asset Management GmbH acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $700,000. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 8.2% in the 2nd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 256,937 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $269,591,000 after purchasing an additional 19,404 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,125.00, for a total value of $22,500,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,630,750. The trade was a 24.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 10th. The shares were 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 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. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 112,577 shares of company stock valued at $125,311,821 in the last three months. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

BlackRock News Summary

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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,296.00 to $1,380.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Freedom Capital raised shares of BlackRock from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Barclays lifted their price objective 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. TD Cowen lowered shares of BlackRock from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,290.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,311.11.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $1,089.89 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $1,094.81 and a 200-day moving average of $1,104.00. The company has a current ratio of 3.33, a quick ratio of 3.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a market cap of $169.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.47. BlackRock has a twelve month low of $773.74 and a twelve month high of $1,219.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $13.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $12.55 by $0.61. The firm had revenue of $7.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.80 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.14% and a net margin of 22.93%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $11.93 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.21. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 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.