Wall Street Zen Upgrades BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) to Hold

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on BLK. Bank of America dropped their target price on BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,124.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Citigroup cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,065.00 to $1,035.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,077.08.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $964.56 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $149.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.97, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.41. BlackRock has a one year low of $752.30 and a one year high of $1,084.22. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $920.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $977.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.84 by $0.46. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The business had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.47 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $9.81 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total value of $408,229.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,720 shares in the company, valued at $3,531,656.40. The trade was a 10.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 12,430 shares of company stock valued at $11,237,249. Company insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. IAG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Fairway Wealth LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 76.5% in the 1st quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% in the first quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Investment Management Corp VA ADV bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Cheviot Value Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the first quarter worth approximately $30,000. 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.