BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Coverage Initiated at StockNews.com

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in a report released on Friday. The firm set a “hold” rating on the asset manager’s stock.

BLK has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased 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. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.4 %

BlackRock stock opened at $950.43 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $147.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. BlackRock has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,084.22. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $980.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $988.41.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The business’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $9.66 EPS. As a group, 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 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total value of $10,100,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $69,117,330. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629 over the last quarter. Corporate 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 stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $2,356,357,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 401.5% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,095,241 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,122,743,000 after acquiring an additional 876,836 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 138,682.5% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 634,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $634,000 after acquiring an additional 633,779 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $572,730,000. Finally, Amundi bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $528,792,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

About BlackRock

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.