BMO Capital Markets Begins Coverage on BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)

Analysts at BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in a research note issued on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage set an “outperform” rating and a $1,280.00 price target on the asset manager’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price target suggests a potential upside of 10.27% from the stock’s current price.

BLK has been the subject of a number of other reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Barclays boosted their price target on BlackRock from $990.00 to $1,220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Bank of America lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,224.00 to $1,396.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,213.67.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of BLK opened at $1,160.75 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $179.74 billion, a PE ratio of 28.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.45. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $773.74 and a 1 year high of $1,183.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a current ratio of 4.04. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $1,129.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1,028.18.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.41 by $1.64. The business had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.40 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.53% and a net margin of 29.68%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $10.36 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,122.81, for a total value of $4,978,539.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,506 shares in the company, valued at $3,936,571.86. The trade was a 55.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,120.50, for a total value of $19,207,611.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 61,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $68,763,964.50. This trade represents a 21.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573. Insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in BlackRock in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,644,007,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 105,267.4% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,705,899 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,789,915,000 after buying an additional 1,704,280 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in BlackRock by 72.5% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,005,358 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,104,122,000 after acquiring an additional 842,901 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its stake in BlackRock by 1,962.0% during the 2nd quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 792,494 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $831,524,000 after acquiring an additional 754,060 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 73.2% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,313,350 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,243,059,000 after purchasing an additional 555,098 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.