BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $845.42.

Several brokerages have issued reports on BLK. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $930.00 target price (up from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group lifted their price target on BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $819.00 to $938.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total value of $765,272.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,574,225.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total value of $25,089,701.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 414,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $335,425,128.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total value of $765,272.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,574,225.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 67,987 shares of company stock worth $55,353,400 over the last 90 days. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 23.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,918,878 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,181,346,000 after purchasing an additional 749,654 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 57.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,514,999 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,853,517,000 after acquiring an additional 1,279,952 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 3.2% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,369,035 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,178,048,000 after purchasing an additional 104,844 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in BlackRock by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,329,550 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,148,586,000 after purchasing an additional 35,161 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 2,471,621 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,006,490,000 after purchasing an additional 58,681 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $778.33 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $115.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.78, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.37. BlackRock has a one year low of $596.18 and a one year high of $845.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.48 and a quick ratio of 3.48. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $796.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $768.53.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.42 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.34%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $7.93 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 41.19 EPS for the current year.

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.