StockNews.com Begins Coverage on BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the asset manager’s stock.

BLK has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,105.00 to $1,133.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on BlackRock from $915.00 to $934.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen raised their price target on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,019.62.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $1,047.37 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $969.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $869.97. The company has a quick ratio of 5.06, a current ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The firm has a market cap of $155.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.30. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $708.75 and a 52-week high of $1,068.34.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.42 by $1.04. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The company had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.03 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $10.91 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that BlackRock will post 43.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total value of $10,800,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,832,000. The trade was a 64.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackRock

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in BlackRock by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,182,262 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,990,052,000 after acquiring an additional 292,017 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in BlackRock by 0.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,983,583 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,681,472,000 after purchasing an additional 42,757 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in BlackRock by 11.1% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,354,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,630,127,000 after buying an additional 435,358 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,816,577 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,663,330,000 after buying an additional 30,182 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,244,608,000 after buying an additional 226,135 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Company Profile

BlackRock, Inc is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm primarily provides its services to institutional, intermediary, and individual investors including corporate, public, union, and industry pension plans, insurance companies, third-party mutual funds, endowments, public institutions, governments, foundations, charities, sovereign wealth funds, corporations, official institutions, and banks.