BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Given New $1,275.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) had its target price increased by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the asset manager’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target points to a potential upside of 28.87% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on BLK. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock in a report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday. TD Cowen raised their target price on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,103.33.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BLK traded down $23.81 during trading on Thursday, reaching $989.37. 483,189 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 779,883. The firm has a market cap of $153.23 billion, a PE ratio of 24.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,082.45. 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,029.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $943.81.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $9.66 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that BlackRock will post 43.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock 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 value of $56,485,620.00. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,777,432. This represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BLK. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 100.0% during the third quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.