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

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

Several other analysts have also issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Argus lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $880.00 to $910.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on BlackRock from $915.00 to $934.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,004.54.

BlackRock Price Performance

BlackRock stock traded up $5.35 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $1,041.41. 15,925 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 571,183. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $947.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $857.04. The stock has a market cap of $154.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.30. BlackRock has a one year low of $650.63 and a one year high of $1,057.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a current ratio of 5.06.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.42 by $1.04. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The business had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $10.91 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that BlackRock will post 42.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $875.03, for a total value of $10,500,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,670,194.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 35,061 shares of company stock valued at $30,734,840. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in BlackRock by 1.3% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 324,092 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $307,729,000 after purchasing an additional 4,082 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at $115,377,000. SouthState Corp grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 25.9% in the 3rd quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 1,251 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,188,000 after buying an additional 257 shares during the period. W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co now owns 16,164 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $15,348,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Princeton Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at about $201,000. 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.