Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Has Lowered Expectations for BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Stock Price

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) had its price target cut by investment analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $1,390.00 to $1,322.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the asset manager’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price objective would indicate a potential upside of 24.14% from the company’s current price.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $1,313.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,160.00 to $1,265.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Argus upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,165.00 to $1,330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,280.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,316.18.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK opened at $1,064.89 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $165.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.47. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $773.74 and a fifty-two week high of $1,219.94. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $1,086.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $1,090.35. The company has a quick ratio of 3.33, a current ratio of 3.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.78 by ($0.23). The company had revenue of $6.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.22 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 26.64% and a return on equity of 14.80%. The business’s revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $11.46 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,165.04, for a total transaction of $13,980,480.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 7,205 shares in the company, valued at $8,394,113.20. This trade represents a 62.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Martin Small sold 1,258 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,043.38, for a total value of $1,312,572.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 6,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,478,346.42. This trade represents a 16.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in BlackRock by 1.7% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,991,264 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $14,680,334,000 after acquiring an additional 227,192 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,143,429 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,281,641,000 after purchasing an additional 34,049 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,644,007,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 72.5% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,005,358 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,104,122,000 after purchasing an additional 842,901 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,841,088 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,146,663,000 after purchasing an additional 10,591 shares in the last quarter. 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.