BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Research Coverage Started at StockNews.com

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in a research note released on Wednesday. The firm issued a hold rating on the asset manager’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on BLK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,077.08.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK opened at $928.47 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $144.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.11, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $916.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $981.38. BlackRock has a twelve month low of $752.30 and a twelve month high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.84 by $0.46. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $9.81 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $852.01, for a total value of $1,704,020.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 66,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,261,628.34. The trade was a 2.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 12,430 shares of company stock valued at $11,237,249. Corporate insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. now owns 277 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $263,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $128,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 1,279 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,311,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the period. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 368 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $377,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marino Stram & Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 3,410 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,496,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.