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

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

BLK has been the subject of several other reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $920.00 to $930.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $912.00 to $937.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $995.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $995.31.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $991.50 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $146.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.30. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $942.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $853.97. BlackRock has a 12 month low of $646.91 and a 12 month high of $1,032.00.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $10.91 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 42.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 11,061 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $852.95, for a total transaction of $9,434,479.95. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,527,116. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold 35,061 shares of company stock valued at $30,734,840 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackRock

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the 1st quarter valued at $38,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 81.5% in the 3rd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 49 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. 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.