BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Earns Hold Rating from Analysts at StockNews.com

Research analysts at StockNews.com began coverage on shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in a research report issued on Friday. The brokerage set a “hold” rating on the asset manager’s stock.

BLK has been the subject of several other reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,105.00 to $1,133.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Evercore ISI increased their price target 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. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,010.00 to $1,120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,019.62.

BlackRock Price Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $1,019.45 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 5.06, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $993.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $886.09. The company has a market cap of $157.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.30. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $725.86 and a 1 year high of $1,068.34.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.42 by $1.04. The business had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.37% and a return on equity of 15.52%. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $10.91 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that BlackRock will post 43.17 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackRock

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth about $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% during the 3rd 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, Addison Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 81.5% during the 3rd 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. 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.