BlackRock has best-ever start to a year as investment flows double and profits surge

By Jamie Chisholm and Tomi Kilgore

BlackRock's stock has its best day in more than a year as money pours into the active management of assets, which is more profitable than index investing

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, seen at the BlackRock Infrastructure Summit on March 11 in Washington, D.C., said Wednesday that the firm's assets under management have risen to a record $15.3 trillion.

Shares of BlackRock rallied to their best day in more than a year on Wednesday, after strong inflows into exchange-traded funds and buoyant markets helped the world's biggest asset manager beat Wall Street's earnings expectations for the latest quarter.

Investment inflows during the first half of the year were more than double those of a year ago, "representing the strongest start to our year in our history," BlackRock Chair and CEO Laurence Fink said on the post-earnings call with analysts, according to a FactSet transcript.

Market "fundamentals are strong and well supported, with higher margins and earnings momentum catalyzed by new technology," he said, as he announced that assets under management rose 22% to a record $15.3 trillion.

The stock (BLK) jumped 6.6% on Wednesday to a two-month high. It was the stock's best day since it shot up 10% on April 9, 2025.

In its second-quarter earnings statement, BlackRock said it saw net inflows of $192 billion, taking first-half net inflows to a record $321 billion. The investments were "broad-based across the platform and driven by ETFs, private markets, active fixed income and systematic equity strategies," the company said.

Inflows into ETFs totaled $177.9 billion in the second quarter, to make up more than 90% of total inflows. From institutional clients, BlackRock saw inflows into actively managed funds of $43.8 billion but saw outflows of $41.5 billion from index funds.

Because active funds require higher fees, that helped push adjusted operating margins, a measure of profitability, up to 45.9%, the highest rate seen in nearly five years.

Revenue was $7.084 billion, up 31% from a year ago, reflecting "the positive impact of markets, organic base fee growth, fees related to the HPS Transaction, higher performance fees, and higher technology services and subscription revenue," BlackRock said. BlackRock completed the purchase of private-credit company HPS a year ago.

Adjusted earnings per share for the second quarter were $13.91, up 15% from a year ago and well above analysts' forecasts of $12.69, according to FactSet.

"Our momentum is accelerating, and I've never been more optimistic about the growth ahead," Fink said.

With the results, the stock has turned positive for the year. It has gained 2.9% in 2026, but that trails the S&P 500 index's SPX year-to-date gain of 10.5%.

BlackRock said it would increase its planned quarterly share repurchases to $550 million, from the current quarter's $450 million.

The majority of analysts covering BlackRock are bullish on the stock, with an average stock-price target of $1,264, according to FactSet, which implies roughly 15% upside from current levels.

A team of Goldman Sachs analysts led by Alexander Blostein reiterated their buy rating on BlackRock, with a 12-month share-price target of $1,353, as they welcomed the earnings report and noted the company enjoyed "a healthy market backdrop."

"With the stock trading at a discount to historical levels on several metrics, we think the upside case for [BlackRock] remains attractive," the Goldman team said.

-Jamie Chisholm -Tomi Kilgore

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