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

Analysts at StockNews.com began coverage on shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in a report released on Saturday. The brokerage set a “hold” rating on the asset manager’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on BLK. Citigroup upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $947.48 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $978.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $992.24. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $745.55 and a 12-month high of $1,084.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $147.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.56, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $9.66 EPS. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total value of $408,229.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,531,656.40. This trade represents a 10.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,376,606 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,712,493,000 after buying an additional 68,405 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in BlackRock by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,983,583 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,681,472,000 after acquiring an additional 42,757 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,097,524 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,200,450,000 after purchasing an additional 93,844 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,006,765 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,072,787,000 after purchasing an additional 190,188 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,390,450 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,450,475,000 after purchasing an additional 26,485 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.