Citigroup Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Stock

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) had its price target boosted by analysts at Citigroup from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the asset manager’s stock. Citigroup’s price objective points to a potential upside of 13.76% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on BLK. Barclays boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,120.00 to $1,220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,245.00 to $1,261.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,063.00.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $1,054.83 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 5.06, a current ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,082.45. The company has a market cap of $163.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.03, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $1,024.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $917.84.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.03 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $10.91 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 43.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total value of $56,485,620.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS raised its position in BlackRock by 20.6% in the third quarter. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS now owns 603 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $573,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. now owns 277 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $263,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the third quarter worth about $518,000. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 55.1% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 28,958 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $27,496,000 after buying an additional 10,284 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Destination Wealth Management grew its position in BlackRock by 6.6% during the third quarter. Destination Wealth Management now owns 1,140 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,082,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

About BlackRock

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.