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

Stock analysts at StockNews.com started coverage on shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in a report released on Thursday. The firm set a “hold” rating on the asset manager’s stock.

BLK has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Three 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, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Up 3.1 %

BlackRock stock opened at $928.74 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $983.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $985.61. BlackRock has a 1-year low of $745.55 and a 1-year high of $1,084.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $144.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.29.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $9.66 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total transaction of $10,100,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $69,117,330. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629 over the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackRock

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BLK. United Bank lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 1,121 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,064,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. Versor Investments LP bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $285,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $334,000. Empower Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 91.7% in the 3rd quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 736 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $699,000 after acquiring an additional 352 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 15,499 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $14,716,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by 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.