Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Stock

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) had its target price raised by investment analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $1,275.00 to $1,300.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the asset manager’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price objective would indicate a potential upside of 21.23% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. BNP Paribas Exane raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,300.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. TD Cowen dropped their price target on BlackRock from $1,238.00 to $1,105.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Barclays increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,340.00 to $1,450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $1,145.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Friday, July 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,304.29.

BlackRock Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $1,072.30 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,033.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1,043.13. BlackRock has a 52 week low of $917.39 and a 52 week high of $1,219.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a current ratio of 4.09. The company has a market cap of $166.20 billion, a PE ratio of 25.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.43.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $13.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $12.69 by $1.22. BlackRock had a net margin of 24.09% and a return on equity of 15.01%. The firm had revenue of $7.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $12.05 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 30.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that BlackRock will post 54.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 33,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,050.55, for a total value of $35,613,645.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 230,516 shares in the company, valued at $242,168,583.80. The trade was a 12.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, President Robert Kapito sold 8,739 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,056.60, for a total value of $9,233,627.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the president directly owned 210,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $222,082,527.60. The trade was a 3.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 1.92% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackRock

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 5,190.3% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,490,422 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,876,618,000 after buying an additional 5,386,640 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,742,680,000. Oak Harvest Investment Services lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 12,176.1% in the fourth quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services now owns 1,595,153 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,707,356,000 after buying an additional 1,582,159 shares during the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 106,934.0% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 1,284,408 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $128,441,000 after buying an additional 1,283,208 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 200.5% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,451,122 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,553,194,000 after acquiring an additional 968,245 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BlackRock News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock reported record second-quarter results, with revenue and earnings beating Wall Street estimates and client assets reaching a new high, highlighting strong operating momentum. Blackrock CEO Says Client Demand Has ‘Never Been Greater’ as Assets Reach Record $15.3 Trillion
• Positive Sentiment: BMO Capital Markets raised its price target on BlackRock to $1,300 and kept an outperform view, while other firms also lifted targets after the earnings beat, signaling rising Street confidence. BlackRock price target raised by BMO Capital Markets
• Positive Sentiment: J.P. Morgan upgraded BlackRock to overweight/buy-equivalent and Bank of America reiterated a buy rating, citing growth opportunities in tokenization, private markets, direct indexing, and automation-led margin expansion. JP Morgan upgrades BlackRock to buy-equivalent after Q2 earnings
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock’s iShares business surpassed $6 trillion in assets, and Bitcoin ETF inflows continued to support the firm’s fast-growing ETF platform, reinforcing a strong fee-based growth story. BlackRock iShares Surpasses $6 Trillion in Assets
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles highlighted BlackRock’s expanding ownership stakes in other companies and broader market commentary, but these items are not likely to materially move BLK shares on their own.

About BlackRock

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.