<div id="readability-page-1">Sara Bay Financial bought a new stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 7,907 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $9,219,000. BlackRock comprises 2.6% of Sara Bay Financial's investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position.<ul><li>This ETF Caught a Major Tailwind After the Fed’s Rate Cut</li></ul>A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in BlackRock by 1.7% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,991,264 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $14,680,334,000 after buying an additional 227,192 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of 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 last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,644,007,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 72.5% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,005,358 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,104,122,000 after acquiring an additional 842,901 shares during the period. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in BlackRock by 105,267.4% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,705,899 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,789,915,000 after purchasing an additional 1,704,280 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. <h2>BlackRock News Roundup</h2>Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:<ul> <li>Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an Overweight rating, supporting demand expectations and giving BLK near-term analyst support. Morgan Stanley note</li> <li>Positive Sentiment: BlackRock Canada cut management fees on several core iShares ETF portfolios (effective Dec. 18), which should help competitiveness and could lift AUM/flows in Canada. Fee cut press release</li> <li>Positive Sentiment: Wall Street remains generally constructive: multiple recent buy/overweight ratings and above-consensus price targets point to continued analyst conviction in BLK’s long-term earnings power. Analyst notes summary</li> <li>Neutral Sentiment: BlackRock signed an MoU with Mastercard and others to promote blockchain adoption in the Middle East — a strategic partnership that’s incremental for growth but not immediately material to earnings. PYMNTS article</li> <li>Neutral Sentiment: Eni sold a 49.99% stake in its carbon capture unit to GIP (BlackRock’s infrastructure fund) giving joint control — a sign of GIP deal activity and infrastructure exposure but limited immediate impact on BLK’s public earnings. Reuters</li> <li>Neutral Sentiment: Comparative valuation pieces (e.g., IVZ vs BLK) are circulating but don’t change fundamentals; useful for allocators weighing expense/return trade-offs. Zacks comparison</li> <li>Negative Sentiment: Deutsche Bank issued a pessimistic forecast for BLK’s stock, which likely contributed to selling pressure from model/quant funds and some institutional rebalancing. Deutsche Bank note</li> <li>Negative Sentiment: Keefe, Bruyette &amp; Woods reduced expectations for BLK, adding to the negative analyst noise and pressuring sentiment. KBW note</li> <li>Negative Sentiment: Crypto flows: large spot-Bitcoin ETF inflows were reported (helpful) but BlackRock also moved BTC/ETH to exchanges for redemptions, sparking market volatility and headlines blaming BLK for short-term crypto declines — this fuels risk-off in ETFs and hurt sentiment. Blockonomi NewsBTC</li> <li>Negative Sentiment: Large insider selling activity has been reported recently, which can amplify downside as it raises governance/flow concerns among some investors. QuiverQuant insider summary</li> </ul><h2>Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades</h2><ul><li>Why Bitcoin ETFs Like IBIT May Be Set to Surge in 2026</li></ul>Several brokerages have issued reports on BLK. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,486.00 to $1,514.00 and gave the stock an &#34;overweight&#34; rating in a research report on Wednesday. Cowen reiterated a &#34;buy&#34; rating on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Loop Capital set a $1,255.00 price target on BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a &#34;buy&#34; rating and set a $1,313.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,456.00 to $1,464.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has an average rating of &#34;Moderate Buy&#34; and a consensus price target of $1,316.18.View Our Latest Stock Analysis on BlackRock<h2>BlackRock Price Performance</h2><ul><li>Why Billions Are Flowing into IBIT, BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF</li></ul>Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $1,059.34 on Friday. BlackRock has a 52 week low of $773.74 and a 52 week high of $1,219.94. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $1,082.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $1,091.48. The company has a market cap of $164.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.24, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a quick ratio of 3.33, a current ratio of 3.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $11.78 by ($0.23). The business had revenue of $6.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.22 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.80% and a net margin of 26.64%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $11.46 EPS. Research analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year. <h2>BlackRock Dividend Announcement</h2>The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be given a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio is presently 53.59%. <h2>Insiders Place Their Bets</h2>In other BlackRock news, CFO Martin Small sold 1,258 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,043.38, for a total transaction of $1,312,572.04. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 6,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,478,346.42. The trade was a 16.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities &amp; Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, October 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,165.04, for a total transaction of $13,980,480.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 7,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,394,113.20. This trade represents a 62.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders. <h2>About BlackRock</h2> (Free Report)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.<h2>Further Reading</h2><ul><li>Five stocks we like better than BlackRock</li><li>What is Short Interest? How to Use It</li><li>These 3 Banks Are Rallying Into Year-End, But Will It Continue?</li><li>The Risks of Owning Bonds</li><li>3 Surging Stocks Just Got the Ultimate Stamp of Approval From the S&amp;P 500</li><li>How Investors Can Identify and Successfully Trade Gap-Down Stocks</li><li>This ETF Caught a Major Tailwind After the Fed’s Rate Cut</li></ul><img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://www.marketbeat.com/scripts/SECFilingChart.ashx/query-UHJlZml4PU5ZU0UmU3ltYm9sPUJMSw?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" width="650" height="350" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://www.marketbeat.com/scripts/SECFilingChart.ashx/query-UHJlZml4PU5ZU0UmU3ltYm9sPUJMSw"/>This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.<h2>Should You Invest $1,000 in BlackRock Right Now?</h2>Before you consider BlackRock, you'll want to hear this.MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and BlackRock wasn't on the list.While BlackRock currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.View The Five Stocks Here </div>

Sara Bay Financial invested $9.22 million in BlackRock, acquiring 7,907 shares. This makes BlackRock 2.6% of Sara Bay's portfolio, its 9th largest position. Other major investors like Vanguard and Geode Capital also increased their stakes in BlackRock. Despite some negative sentiment from Deutsche Bank and others, BlackRock received positive ratings from Morgan Stanley and Cowen. Institutional investors own 80.69% of BlackRock's stock.

Sara Bay Financial Makes New $9.22 Million Investment in BlackRock $BLK