BlackRock $BLK Shares Acquired by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Key Points

• Russell Investments increased its position in BlackRock by 13.9% in Q3 to 82,701 shares (about $96.6M), while institutions now own roughly 80.7% of the company and major holders like Vanguard hold multi‑million share stakes.
• Strong quarterly results and dividend hike: BlackRock reported EPS of $13.16 (vs. $12.55 est.) and revenue of $7.01B (up 23.4% YoY), and raised its quarterly dividend to $5.73 ($22.92 annualized, ~2.4% yield).
• Near‑term risk signals: BlackRock capped withdrawals from its HPS Corporate Lending Fund after record redemptions and insiders sold roughly 111,319 shares (~$124M) last quarter, creating liquidity and headline/legal risk.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 13.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 82,701 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 10,117 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned approximately 0.05% of BlackRock worth $96,594,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,991,264 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $14,680,334,000 after acquiring an additional 227,192 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in BlackRock by 1.1% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,143,429 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $3,281,641,000 after acquiring an additional 34,049 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in BlackRock in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,644,007,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 72.5% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,005,358 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,104,122,000 after purchasing an additional 842,901 shares during the period. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 105,267.4% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,705,899 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,789,915,000 after buying an additional 1,704,280 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company's stock.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of BLK stock opened at $959.32 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,086.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1,097.83. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $773.74 and a fifty-two week high of $1,219.94. The stock 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.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $13.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $12.55 by $0.61. BlackRock had a net margin of 22.93% and a return on equity of 14.78%. The company had revenue of $7.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.80 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $11.93 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 23.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $5.73 per share. This represents a $22.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. This is a boost from BlackRock's previous quarterly dividend of $5.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. BlackRock's payout ratio is presently 64.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, CFO Martin Small sold 27,047 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,171.14, for a total transaction of $31,675,823.58. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 10,557 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,363,724.98. The trade was a 71.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Stephen Cohen sold 2,179 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,073.87, for a total value of $2,339,962.73. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,543 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,026,331.41. This represents a 24.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 111,319 shares of company stock worth $123,999,249. Company insiders own 1.98% of the company's stock.

Trending Headlines about BlackRock

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?

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLK has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,456.00 to $1,464.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,290.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,296.00 to $1,380.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, CICC Research upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,250.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, BlackRock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,308.89.

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.

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