Legal & General Group Plc Has $1.06 Billion Stock Position in BlackRock $BLK

Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 913,121 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 39,412 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.59% of BlackRock worth $1,064,580,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pacifica Partners Inc. boosted 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 last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 1,000.0% in the third 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 period. Traub Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Howard Hughes Medical Institute acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE BLK opened at $959.32 on Tuesday. 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 0.37, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The firm has a market cap 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 stock’s 50-day moving average is $1,086.65 and its 200-day moving average is $1,097.83.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 14.78% and a net margin of 22.93%.The business had revenue of $7.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $11.93 EPS. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 23.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 2.4%. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.21. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.71%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on BLK shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,244.00 to $1,267.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Freedom Capital raised BlackRock from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Barclays raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,300.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. UBS Group upgraded BlackRock from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $1,280.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded shares of BlackRock from a “moderate buy” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,308.89.

Key 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?

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, Director Stephen Cohen sold 225 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,069.56, for a total value of $240,651.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,054,779.16. The trade was a 3.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 value of $5,738,776.46. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 46,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,074,700.70. This trade represents a 10.28% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 111,319 shares of company stock worth $123,999,249 over the last three months. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.