BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the ten analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $845.42.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on BLK shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. TD Cowen upgraded BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $819.00 to $938.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $930.00 target price (up from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $778.33 on Thursday. BlackRock has a 12 month low of $596.18 and a 12 month high of $845.00. The company has a quick ratio of 3.48, a current ratio of 3.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market cap of $115.92 billion, a PE ratio of 19.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.37. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $796.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $768.53.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.42 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.34% and a net margin of 32.26%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $7.93 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 41.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total value of $25,089,701.76. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 414,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $335,425,128.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total value of $25,089,701.76. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 414,146 shares in the company, valued at approximately $335,425,128.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total transaction of $29,498,425.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 17,004 shares in the company, valued at $13,910,292.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 67,987 shares of company stock valued at $55,353,400 over the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA lifted its position in BlackRock by 208.3% in the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 37 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in 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.