BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Now Covered by StockNews.com

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

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on BLK. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,010.00 to $1,120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. 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 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.com, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,019.62.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE BLK opened at $1,036.09 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $153.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.57, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.30. BlackRock has a twelve month low of $658.14 and a twelve month high of $1,068.34. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $956.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $863.66. The company has a quick ratio of 5.06, a current ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.42 by $1.04. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The company had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.03 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $10.91 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock will post 43.16 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total value of $10,800,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,832,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackRock

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock in the second quarter worth $31,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in BlackRock during the third quarter valued at $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its position in BlackRock by 81.5% during the third quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 49 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter worth about $54,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.