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

Analysts at StockNews.com started coverage on shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in a report issued on Thursday. The firm set a “hold” rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on BlackRock from $915.00 to $934.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Argus raised their price objective on BlackRock from $880.00 to $910.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,025.00 to $1,013.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on BlackRock in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $1,000.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on BlackRock from $912.00 to $937.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $902.13.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $936.90 on Thursday. BlackRock has a 1-year low of $596.18 and a 1-year high of $942.84. The company has a market capitalization of $139.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.81, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.30. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $872.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $819.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.06 and a quick ratio of 5.06.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $10.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.96 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $4.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.85 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.44% and a net margin of 32.36%. BlackRock’s revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $9.28 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock will post 41.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 29,450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $843.25, for a total transaction of $24,833,712.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 353,718 shares in the company, valued at $298,272,703.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total transaction of $10,800,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,832,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 29,450 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $843.25, for a total value of $24,833,712.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,718 shares in the company, valued at $298,272,703.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 93,042 shares of company stock worth $79,387,117 over the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BLK. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in BlackRock by 57.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,514,999 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,853,517,000 after buying an additional 1,279,952 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 23.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,918,878 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,181,346,000 after purchasing an additional 749,654 shares during the last quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 24,171.5% during the first quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC now owns 416,014 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $346,831,000 after purchasing an additional 414,300 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 2.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,182,262 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,990,052,000 after purchasing an additional 292,017 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1,829.7% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 297,985 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $241,904,000 after purchasing an additional 282,543 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.