BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Shares Down 1.7%

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)’s share price fell 1.7% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $748.79 and last traded at $749.67. 663,071 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 5% from the average session volume of 632,296 shares. The stock had previously closed at $762.99.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on BLK. TD Cowen upgraded BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $819.00 to $938.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $930.00 price target (up from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group lifted their price target on BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $811.43.

BlackRock Stock Down 1.7 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.48 and a quick ratio of 3.48. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $807.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $755.20. The stock has a market cap of $111.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.05, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.37.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.42 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.34% and a net margin of 32.26%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $7.93 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total transaction of $765,272.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,574,225.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total transaction of $765,272.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,437 shares in the company, valued at $3,574,225.35. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total transaction of $29,498,425.54. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,004 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,910,292.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 100,511 shares of company stock valued at $71,864,028. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackRock

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 23.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,918,878 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,181,346,000 after buying an additional 749,654 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 57.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,514,999 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,853,517,000 after purchasing an additional 1,279,952 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,369,035 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,178,048,000 after purchasing an additional 104,844 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,329,550 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,148,586,000 after purchasing an additional 35,161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 2,471,621 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,006,490,000 after purchasing an additional 58,681 shares during 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.