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

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in a research report issued on Wednesday. The firm set a “hold” rating on the asset manager’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on BLK. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,124.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on BlackRock from $1,065.00 to $1,035.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,077.08.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of BLK stock opened at $916.68 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $142.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.83, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $748.78 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $917.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $981.92.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.84 by $0.46. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The business had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $9.81 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $852.01, for a total value of $1,704,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 66,034 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,261,628.34. This trade represents a 2.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 12,430 shares of company stock valued at $11,237,249 over the last three months. 1.98% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackRock

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,376,606 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $13,712,493,000 after purchasing an additional 68,405 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,097,524 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,200,450,000 after acquiring an additional 93,844 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 104,598.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,500,083 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,312,759,000 after acquiring an additional 3,496,740 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 6.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 190,188 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,390,450 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,450,475,000 after buying an additional 26,485 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.