BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on BLK. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Loop Capital set a $1,255.00 price target on BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. BNP Paribas Exane increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,160.00 to $1,265.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,301.00 to $1,407.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,316.18.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $1,059.34 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $1,082.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1,090.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $164.36 billion, a PE ratio of 27.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.47. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $773.74 and a fifty-two week high of $1,219.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 3.33 and a current ratio of 3.33.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $11.78 by ($0.23). The company had revenue of $6.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.22 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 26.64% and a return on equity of 14.80%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $11.46 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,165.04, for a total transaction of $13,980,480.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 7,205 shares in the company, valued at $8,394,113.20. The trade was a 62.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Martin Small sold 1,258 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,043.38, for a total transaction of $1,312,572.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 6,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,478,346.42. The trade was a 16.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackRock

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter valued at approximately $3,791,000. CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the third quarter valued at $233,000. Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 4.2% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,774 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,234,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the period. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 117,961 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $137,527,000 after purchasing an additional 1,781 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 192.6% during the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 1,536 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,791,000 after purchasing an additional 1,011 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about BlackRock

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an Overweight rating, supporting demand expectations and giving BLK near-term analyst support. Morgan Stanley note
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock Canada cut management fees on several core iShares ETF portfolios (effective Dec. 18), which should help competitiveness and could lift AUM/flows in Canada. Fee cut press release
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street remains generally constructive: multiple recent buy/overweight ratings and above-consensus price targets point to continued analyst conviction in BLK’s long-term earnings power. Analyst notes summary
• Neutral Sentiment: BlackRock signed an MoU with Mastercard and others to promote blockchain adoption in the Middle East — a strategic partnership that’s incremental for growth but not immediately material to earnings. PYMNTS article
• Neutral Sentiment: Eni sold a 49.99% stake in its carbon capture unit to GIP (BlackRock’s infrastructure fund) giving joint control — a sign of GIP deal activity and infrastructure exposure but limited immediate impact on BLK’s public earnings. Reuters
• Neutral Sentiment: Comparative valuation pieces (e.g., IVZ vs BLK) are circulating but don’t change fundamentals; useful for allocators weighing expense/return trade-offs. Zacks comparison
• Negative Sentiment: Deutsche Bank issued a pessimistic forecast for BLK’s stock, which likely contributed to selling pressure from model/quant funds and some institutional rebalancing. Deutsche Bank note
• Negative Sentiment: Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced expectations for BLK, adding to the negative analyst noise and pressuring sentiment. KBW note
• Negative Sentiment: Crypto flows: large spot-Bitcoin ETF inflows were reported (helpful) but BlackRock also moved BTC/ETH to exchanges for redemptions, sparking market volatility and headlines blaming BLK for short-term crypto declines — this fuels risk-off in ETFs and hurt sentiment. Blockonomi NewsBTC
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider selling activity has been reported recently, which can amplify downside as it raises governance/flow concerns among some investors. QuiverQuant insider summary

BlackRock Company Profile

BlackRock, Inc is a global investment management firm that provides a broad range of products and services to institutional, intermediary and individual investors. Its core activities include portfolio management across active and index strategies, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) under the iShares brand, fixed income, equity and multi-asset solutions, as well as alternatives such as private equity, real estate and infrastructure. The firm also offers cash management and liquidity solutions and retirement-focused products designed for defined contribution and defined benefit investors.

In addition to traditional investment management, BlackRock is known for its technology and risk management capabilities, most prominently its Aladdin platform, which combines portfolio management, trading and risk analytics and is used both internally and licensed to external clients.