BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Stock Price Down 1.5%

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) shares dropped 1.5% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $771.31 and last traded at $773.80. Approximately 515,243 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 15% from the average daily volume of 609,577 shares. The stock had previously closed at $785.96.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $930.00 target price (up from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. TD Cowen raised shares of BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $819.00 to $938.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $802.29.

BlackRock Trading Down 2.9 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $113.70 billion, a PE ratio of 19.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.37. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $808.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $752.88. The company has a quick ratio of 3.48, a current ratio of 3.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.42 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 30.81% and a return on equity of 14.74%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $7.93 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.32 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total transaction of $765,272.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,437 shares in the company, valued at $3,574,225.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 18,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.54, for a total transaction of $5,085,660.60. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 11,914 shares in the company, valued at $3,366,142.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total transaction of $765,272.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,574,225.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 100,511 shares of company stock valued at $71,864,028. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackRock

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in BlackRock by 23.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,918,878 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,181,346,000 after buying an additional 749,654 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in BlackRock by 57.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,514,999 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,853,517,000 after buying an additional 1,279,952 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in BlackRock by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,369,035 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,178,048,000 after buying an additional 104,844 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in BlackRock by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,329,550 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,148,586,000 after buying an additional 35,161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its position in BlackRock by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 2,471,621 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,006,490,000 after buying an additional 58,681 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

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.