BlackRock
Through the investors’ lenses
Each of these investors has said in public what they look at before buying. Click a name to see how this company measures up — a tick where it passes one of their tests, a cross where it does not.
Warren Buffett 2/3
| Measure | BLK | Checked against | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owner earnings | $5.47bn | positive | ✓ |
| Return on equity | 9.9% | median 11.7% | ✗ |
| Debt to equity | — | median 0.79x | — |
| Operating margin | 29.1% | median 15.0% | ✓ |
Passes 2 of 3. To be clear: Warren Buffett has never said anything about BlackRock. These are the company’s own figures put through the tests he described. What he looks at, and why →
Terry Smith 1/1
| Measure | BLK | Checked against | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Return on capital employed | — | median 10.1% | — |
| Cash conversion | — | median 1.78x | — |
| Operating margin | 29.1% | median 15.0% | ✓ |
| Debt to equity | — | median 0.79x | — |
Passes 1 of 1. To be clear: Terry Smith has never said anything about BlackRock. These are the company’s own figures put through the tests he described. What he looks at, and why →
Charlie Munger 1/2
| Measure | BLK | Checked against | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Return on capital employed | — | median 10.1% | — |
| Return on equity | 9.9% | median 11.7% | ✗ |
| Operating margin | 29.1% | median 15.0% | ✓ |
Passes 1 of 2. To be clear: Charlie Munger has never said anything about BlackRock. These are the company’s own figures put through the tests he described. What he looks at, and why →
Chuck Akre 0/1
| Measure | BLK | Checked against | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Return on equity | 9.9% | median 11.7% | ✗ |
| Debt to equity | — | median 0.79x | — |
| Cash conversion | — | median 1.78x | — |
Passes 0 of 1. To be clear: Chuck Akre has never said anything about BlackRock. These are the company’s own figures put through the tests he described. What he looks at, and why →
Philip Fisher 2/2
| Measure | BLK | Checked against | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Operating margin | 29.1% | median 15.0% | ✓ |
| Net margin | 22.9% | median 10.2% | ✓ |
| Return on capital employed | — | median 10.1% | — |
Passes 2 of 2. To be clear: Philip Fisher has never said anything about BlackRock. These are the company’s own figures put through the tests he described. What he looks at, and why →
Peter Lynch 1/1
| Measure | BLK | Checked against | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debt to equity | — | median 0.79x | — |
| Net margin | 22.9% | median 10.2% | ✓ |
Passes 1 of 1. To be clear: Peter Lynch has never said anything about BlackRock. These are the company’s own figures put through the tests he described. What he looks at, and why →
| Basis | Payout | Why |
|---|---|---|
| GAAP earnings | 59.0% | whyThe figure most screeners publish. |
Only one basis is shown, and that is the point. Operating and free cash flow swing with loan, deposit and reserve movements, so for a lender or insurer neither says anything about whether the dividend is affordable. Investment income is omitted for a second reason: insurers file it under the same tag a BDC uses, but it means investment income on float rather than the money that funds the distribution. Screeners that publish these for a bank are printing arithmetic, not information — and a wide gap between them is noise, not a finding.
Coverage rating 36 / 100 — Strained. ? Peer standing 6/50Direction 10/30Stability 20/20
GAAP earnings payout, last 4 years
| Fiscal year | Payout |
|---|---|
| 2025-12-31 | 59.0% |
| 2024-12-31 | 48.6% |
| 2023-12-31 | 54.8% |
| 2022-12-31 | 57.5% |
Among the 48 banks & insurers companies here, only 12% pay out a larger share on this basis — this is at the demanding end.
The arithmetic
- GAAP earnings — dividends declared per share $20.84 ÷ diluted EPS $35.31
Where the figures came from
- 10-K filed 2026-02-25 · accession 0001193125-26-071966
All public at sec.gov — you should not have to take our word for it.
Caveats on this company
- dividends paid derived as $20.84 x 161m shares = $3,352m; no total was filed
Computed straight from SEC XBRL. A number that looks wrong to you is more useful to us than agreement — tell us.
What the GAAP earnings payout ratio measures, and where every company here sits on it.
Also on: rated strained · when it files.
When this changes
Every figure above is recomputed whenever BlackRock files. The monthly letter carries what filed, what moved, and one finding computed across every company here.