BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Trading Down 0.2%

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)’s share price traded down 0.2% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $757.14 and last traded at $759.86. 61,347 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 90% from the average session volume of 617,394 shares. The stock had previously closed at $761.28.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. TD Cowen raised BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $819.00 to $938.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $930.00 target price (up previously from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $845.42.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.6 %

The company has a quick ratio of 3.48, a current ratio of 3.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market cap of $112.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.37. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $801.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $762.69.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $9.42 by $0.39. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.34% and a net margin of 32.26%. The business had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $7.93 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total value of $25,089,701.76. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 414,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $335,425,128.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total value of $29,498,425.54. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 17,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,910,292.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total transaction of $25,089,701.76. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 414,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $335,425,128.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 82,511 shares of company stock valued at $66,778,367 over the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 1st quarter worth $27,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA lifted its stake in BlackRock by 208.3% during the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 37 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.