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

Equities researchers at StockNews.com began coverage on shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday. The brokerage set a “hold” rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on 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. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.5 %

BLK opened at $953.38 on Tuesday. BlackRock has a 12 month low of $745.55 and a 12 month high of $1,084.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. The stock has a market cap of $147.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $1,006.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $980.19.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $9.66 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

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 approximately $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total value of $10,100,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $69,117,330. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141 in the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $506,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $3,105,000. Armis Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $248,000. Hall Capital Management Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $330,000. Finally, Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $2,744,000. Hedge funds and other 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.