BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Now Covered by Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in a research note published on Wednesday morning. The firm issued a hold rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on BLK. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Argus boosted their target price on BlackRock from $880.00 to $910.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen raised their price target on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,105.00 to $1,133.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,019.62.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $1,030.86 on Wednesday. BlackRock has a twelve month low of $673.00 and a twelve month high of $1,068.34. The company has a quick ratio of 5.06, a current ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market cap of $152.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.44, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.30. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $959.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $865.58.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total value of $10,800,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,832,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackRock

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock during the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in BlackRock by 100.0% in the third quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 81.5% during the third quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 49 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter worth $54,000. 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.