BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Earns Hold Rating from Analysts at StockNews.com

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

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the company. Bank of America decreased their price target on BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. UBS Group raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,103.08.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $817.17 on Friday. BlackRock has a 1-year low of $745.55 and a 1-year high of $1,084.22. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market cap of $126.87 billion, a PE ratio of 19.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $964.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $991.92.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $9.66 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total value of $10,100,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,117,330. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. IAG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Investment Management Corp VA ADV purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Collier Financial bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Institutional investors 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.