Robinhood Gets More Investment from BlackRock. The Stock Is Rising.

BlackRock now owns around 7.2% of the brokerage platform. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Key Points

• BlackRock increased its stake in Robinhood by over 40% in the third quarter. It now owns 55.8 million shares, a 7.2% stake.
• Robinhood shares rose 7.7% to $139.85 on Monday, with a year-to-date increase of approximately 250%.
• The company’s growth is attributed to its expansion into a broader range of financial services, including crypto trading, and a surge in cryptocurrency prices.

Robinhood Markets has been a lucrative investment for shareholders this year, and the world’s largest asset manager is growing its stake in the brokerage platform.

BlackRock increased its position in Robinhood by more than 40% in the third quarter, it disclosed in a securities filing over the weekend. The asset manager now owns about 55.8 million Robinhood shares as of Sept. 30, giving it a 7.2% ownership stake. That is up from 39.7 million shares and a 5.2% stake at the end of June.

BlackRock is the second largest institutional holder of Robinhood behind Vanguard, which disclosed its own 12.2% stake in the company in a filing on Oct. 6.

Robinhood shares were up 7.7% to $139.85 on Monday. The stock has climbed around 250% this year, taking its market capitalization to more than $120 billion.

Robinhood’s momentum results partly from the company’s transition from a retail trading brokerage into a sprawling financial services company, with crypto trading, a credit card, and even private banking. But the surge in cryptocurrency prices over the past year has also been a boon for Robinhood.

The stock tends to trade in concert with Bitcoin and other digital assets. Bitcoin is up 18% this year and rose 1.8% Monday.

Write to Nate Wolf at nate.wolf@barrons.com