BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Trading Down 1.6%

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) traded down 1.6% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $748.02 and last traded at $750.48. 130,973 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 623,143 shares. The stock had previously closed at $762.80.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen upgraded BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $819.00 to $938.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $930.00 price target (up previously from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $845.42.

BlackRock Stock Performance

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $803.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $759.33. The company has a current ratio of 3.48, a quick ratio of 3.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $112.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.37.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.42 by $0.39. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.34%. The firm had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $7.93 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total transaction of $29,498,425.54. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 17,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,910,292.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other BlackRock news, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total value of $29,498,425.54. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 17,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,910,292.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total transaction of $765,272.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,574,225.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 82,511 shares of company stock valued at $66,778,367. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackRock

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Strategy Asset Managers LLC increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 4.5% during the first quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC now owns 644 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $537,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Equitable Trust Co. increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 20.8% during the first quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 2,817 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,349,000 after buying an additional 485 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.0% during the first quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 41,161 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $34,316,000 after buying an additional 800 shares during the period. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.3% during the first quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV now owns 3,516 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,931,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the period. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.5% in the first quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,962 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,260,000 after buying an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.