BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Trading Down 1.7%

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) fell 1.7% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $748.79 and last traded at $749.67. 663,071 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 5% from the average session volume of 632,296 shares. The stock had previously closed at $762.99.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $930.00 price objective (up from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Friday, April 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. TD Cowen upgraded shares of BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $819.00 to $938.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. UBS Group boosted their target price on BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $845.42.

BlackRock Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $111.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.99, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 3.48, a quick ratio of 3.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $805.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $755.13.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.54, for a total value of $5,085,660.60. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 11,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,366,142.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 3,418 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $781.11, for a total value of $2,669,833.98. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 70,378 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,972,959.58. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 18,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.54, for a total value of $5,085,660.60. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 11,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,366,142.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 100,511 shares of company stock worth $71,864,028 over the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackRock

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,812,920,000. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 57.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,514,999 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,853,517,000 after purchasing an additional 1,279,952 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 23.7% during the 4th 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 during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 104,159.9% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 697,499 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $494,269,000 after purchasing an additional 696,830 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in BlackRock by 77,524.5% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 641,955 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,211,390,000 after purchasing an additional 641,128 shares during the period. 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.