StockNews.com Initiates Coverage on BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)

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

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on BLK. Evercore ISI raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target 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. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $1,016.99 on Friday. BlackRock has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,082.45. The stock has a market cap of $157.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.21, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.28. The business’s fifty day moving average is $1,025.37 and its 200 day moving average is $951.85. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $9.66 EPS. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total value 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. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at $43,845,393.48. This trade represents a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 100,190 shares of company stock worth $104,436,741 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackRock

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp grew its position in BlackRock by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,983,583 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,681,472,000 after acquiring an additional 42,757 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,816,577 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,663,330,000 after purchasing an additional 30,182 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,244,608,000 after purchasing an additional 226,135 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in BlackRock by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,192,247 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,081,561,000 after purchasing an additional 40,865 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,197,274 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $942,640,000 after buying an additional 22,311 shares during the period. 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.