BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Short Interest Up 8.9% in October

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,960,000 shares, an increase of 8.9% from the September 30th total of 1,800,000 shares. Currently, 1.4% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 507,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.9 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BLK. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $915.00 to $934.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $995.31.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of BLK opened at $980.60 on Friday. BlackRock has a 12 month low of $604.41 and a 12 month high of $1,032.00. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $937.94 and its 200-day moving average is $849.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $145.25 billion, a PE ratio of 24.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 5.06, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.42 by $1.04. The company had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.36% and a return on equity of 15.44%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $10.91 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 41.73 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 11,061 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $852.95, for a total transaction of $9,434,479.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,527,116. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 29,450 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $843.25, for a total transaction of $24,833,712.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,718 shares in the company, valued at $298,272,703.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 11,061 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $852.95, for a total transaction of $9,434,479.95. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,527,116. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 64,511 shares of company stock worth $55,568,552 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BLK. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 1st quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. 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.