BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Receives $802.29 Average Price Target from Analysts

Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the ten research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $845.42.

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

BlackRock Stock Performance

BLK stock opened at $747.08 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $111.27 billion, a PE ratio of 18.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.37. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $805.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $755.13. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $596.18 and a 12-month high of $845.00. The company has a current ratio of 3.48, a quick ratio of 3.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.42 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.34% and a net margin of 32.26%. BlackRock’s revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $7.93 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 41.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In related news, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total transaction of $765,272.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,437 shares in the company, valued at $3,574,225.35. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other BlackRock news, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total transaction of $29,498,425.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 17,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,910,292.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total value of $765,272.50. Following the transaction, the director now 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 100,511 shares of company stock valued at $71,864,028 over the last ninety days. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners bought a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 208.3% during the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 37 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Northwest Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. 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.