BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Rating Reiterated by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by equities researchers at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in a research report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $915.00 price objective on the asset manager’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price target indicates a potential upside of 15.99% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. UBS Group increased their price objective on BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $844.17.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BLK stock opened at $788.85 on Tuesday. BlackRock has a 1-year low of $596.18 and a 1-year high of $845.00. The company has a current ratio of 5.32, a quick ratio of 5.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market cap of $117.22 billion, a PE ratio of 20.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.32. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $780.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $792.74.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.42 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.24% and a net margin of 32.26%. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $7.93 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 41.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $807.29, for a total transaction of $25,008,229.62. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 383,168 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $309,327,694.72. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total transaction of $7,155,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,151,600. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $807.29, for a total value of $25,008,229.62. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 383,168 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $309,327,694.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 62.8% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,291 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,804,000 after buying an additional 884 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 11.3% in the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 680 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $568,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Old Port Advisors increased its position in BlackRock by 6.7% during the first quarter. Old Port Advisors now owns 368 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $307,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the period. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. raised its stake in BlackRock by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 342 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $285,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SRN Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 1st quarter worth about $1,238,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.