BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Upgraded at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $1,364.00 price target on the asset manager’s stock, up from their previous price target of $1,165.00.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on BLK. Bank of America increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,298.00 to $1,320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of BlackRock from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,181.00 to $1,313.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,430.00 to $1,383.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,300.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,304.29.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK stock opened at $1,072.30 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 4.09 and a quick ratio of 4.09. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $917.39 and a 1 year high of $1,219.94. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $1,033.74 and a 200 day moving average of $1,043.13. The company has a market cap of $166.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.63, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.43.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $13.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $12.69 by $1.22. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.01% and a net margin of 24.09%.The firm had revenue of $7.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $12.05 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 55.24 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were given a dividend of $5.73 per share. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 57.53%.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, President Robert Kapito sold 8,739 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 27th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $222,082,527.60. The trade was a 3.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 33,900 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,050.55, for a total transaction of $35,613,645.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 230,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $242,168,583.80. This trade represents a 12.82% 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.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackRock

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Shum Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Shum Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,183 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,336,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares during the period. First Bancorp Inc ME raised its position in BlackRock by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. First Bancorp Inc ME now owns 321 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $344,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares during the period. Rather & Kittrell Inc. lifted its stake in BlackRock by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Rather & Kittrell Inc. now owns 430 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $461,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares during the last quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 755 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $808,000 after buying an additional 9 shares during the period. Finally, Mechanics Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Mechanics Financial Corp now owns 1,900 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,034,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about BlackRock

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.