BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) issued its earnings results on Friday. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.42 by $0.39, RTT News reports. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 30.81%. The company had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $7.93 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $763.40 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $808.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $753.65. BlackRock has a twelve month low of $596.18 and a twelve month high of $845.00. The company has a market cap of $113.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.40, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a quick ratio of 3.48, a current ratio of 3.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLK has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group upped their target price on BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. TD Cowen raised BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $819.00 to $938.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $930.00 target price (up from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $802.29.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.54, for a total value of $5,085,660.60. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 11,914 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,366,142.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.54, for a total transaction of $5,085,660.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 11,914 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,366,142.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total value of $25,089,701.76. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 414,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $335,425,128.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 100,511 shares of company stock worth $71,864,028 in the last 90 days. 0.96% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackRock

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Parkside Investments LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 25.0% during the 1st quarter. Parkside Investments LLC now owns 1,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $834,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC now owns 859 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $716,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP increased its holdings in BlackRock by 7.7% during the 1st quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 67,073 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $55,919,000 after purchasing an additional 4,786 shares in the last quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 27.7% during the 1st quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 350 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $291,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Finally, West Coast Financial LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 1st quarter valued at $240,000. 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.