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

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

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on BLK. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $915.00 to $934.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $920.00 to $930.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,010.00 to $1,120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Three equities 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, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,019.62.

BlackRock Price Performance

NYSE:BLK opened at $1,047.37 on Wednesday. BlackRock has a 52 week low of $708.75 and a 52 week high of $1,068.34. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $969.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $869.97. The company has a market capitalization of $155.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 5.06, a current ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.42 by $1.04. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.37% and a return on equity of 15.52%. BlackRock’s revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $10.91 EPS. Equities analysts expect that BlackRock will post 43.17 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,832,000. The trade was a 64.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in BlackRock by 1.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,816,577 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,663,330,000 after acquiring an additional 30,182 shares during the last quarter. Vestcor Inc increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 4.6% during the third quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 2,932 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,784,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV now owns 14,375 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $13,650,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC now owns 4,904 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,657,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Finally, SGL Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $741,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

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.