Wells Fargo & Company Lowers BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Price Target to $1,155.00

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) had its price target decreased by investment analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $1,200.00 to $1,155.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the asset manager’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 17.19% from the company’s previous close.

BLK has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,245.00 to $1,261.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,070.08.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE BLK opened at $985.59 on Tuesday. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,082.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.06 and a quick ratio of 5.06. The company has a market capitalization of $152.65 billion, a PE ratio of 24.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a fifty day moving average of $1,031.47 and a 200 day moving average of $937.84.

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 business had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $10.91 EPS. Research analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 43.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,777,432. This represents a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackRock

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,983,583 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,681,472,000 after buying an additional 42,757 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,816,577 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,663,330,000 after purchasing an additional 30,182 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,244,608,000 after purchasing an additional 226,135 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,192,247 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,081,561,000 after buying an additional 40,865 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in BlackRock by 2.9% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,665,044 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,310,762,000 after buying an additional 46,728 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.