BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Downgraded to “Sell” Rating by Wall Street Zen

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Monday. Argus upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,165.00 to $1,330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,486.00 to $1,514.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $1,313.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,316.18.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.5%

BLK opened at $1,059.34 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 3.33 and a current ratio of 3.33. The company has a market cap of $164.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.24, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.47. BlackRock has a one year low of $773.74 and a one year high of $1,219.94. The business’s fifty day moving average is $1,082.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1,090.73.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $11.78 by ($0.23). BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.80% and a net margin of 26.64%.The firm had revenue of $6.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.22 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $11.46 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, CFO Martin Small sold 1,258 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,043.38, for a total transaction of $1,312,572.04. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 6,209 shares in the company, valued at $6,478,346.42. This represents a 16.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the director owned 7,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,394,113.20. The trade was a 62.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackRock

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in BlackRock in the second quarter valued at $2,644,007,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 105,267.4% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,705,899 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,789,915,000 after acquiring an additional 1,704,280 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in BlackRock by 72.5% in the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,005,358 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,104,122,000 after purchasing an additional 842,901 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1,962.0% in the second quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 792,494 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $831,524,000 after buying an additional 754,060 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 73.2% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,313,350 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,243,059,000 after buying an additional 555,098 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an Overweight rating, supporting demand expectations and giving BLK near-term analyst support. Morgan Stanley note
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock Canada cut management fees on several core iShares ETF portfolios (effective Dec. 18), which should help competitiveness and could lift AUM/flows in Canada. Fee cut press release
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street remains generally constructive: multiple recent buy/overweight ratings and above-consensus price targets point to continued analyst conviction in BLK’s long-term earnings power. Analyst notes summary
• Neutral Sentiment: BlackRock signed an MoU with Mastercard and others to promote blockchain adoption in the Middle East — a strategic partnership that’s incremental for growth but not immediately material to earnings. PYMNTS article
• Neutral Sentiment: Eni sold a 49.99% stake in its carbon capture unit to GIP (BlackRock’s infrastructure fund) giving joint control — a sign of GIP deal activity and infrastructure exposure but limited immediate impact on BLK’s public earnings. Reuters
• Neutral Sentiment: Comparative valuation pieces (e.g., IVZ vs BLK) are circulating but don’t change fundamentals; useful for allocators weighing expense/return trade-offs. Zacks comparison
• Negative Sentiment: Deutsche Bank issued a pessimistic forecast for BLK’s stock, which likely contributed to selling pressure from model/quant funds and some institutional rebalancing. Deutsche Bank note
• Negative Sentiment: Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced expectations for BLK, adding to the negative analyst noise and pressuring sentiment. KBW note
• Negative Sentiment: Crypto flows: large spot-Bitcoin ETF inflows were reported (helpful) but BlackRock also moved BTC/ETH to exchanges for redemptions, sparking market volatility and headlines blaming BLK for short-term crypto declines — this fuels risk-off in ETFs and hurt sentiment. Blockonomi NewsBTC
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider selling activity has been reported recently, which can amplify downside as it raises governance/flow concerns among some investors. QuiverQuant insider summary

BlackRock Company Profile

BlackRock, Inc is a global investment management firm that provides a broad range of products and services to institutional, intermediary and individual investors. Its core activities include portfolio management across active and index strategies, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) under the iShares brand, fixed income, equity and multi-asset solutions, as well as alternatives such as private equity, real estate and infrastructure. The firm also offers cash management and liquidity solutions and retirement-focused products designed for defined contribution and defined benefit investors.

In addition to traditional investment management, BlackRock is known for its technology and risk management capabilities, most prominently its Aladdin platform, which combines portfolio management, trading and risk analytics and is used both internally and licensed to external clients.