StockNews.com Initiates Coverage on BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)

Equities researchers at StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in a note issued to investors on Monday. The brokerage set a “hold” rating on the asset manager’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on BLK. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group lowered their target price on BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,053.00 to $1,046.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,077.08.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $889.21 on Monday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $138.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $937.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $987.19. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $745.55 and a 12-month high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.84 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.47 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $9.81 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total transaction of $408,229.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,531,656.40. This trade represents a 10.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 104,598.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,500,083 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,312,759,000 after purchasing an additional 3,496,740 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,356,357,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in BlackRock by 401.5% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,095,241 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,122,743,000 after buying an additional 876,836 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 138,682.5% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 634,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $634,000 after acquiring an additional 633,779 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $572,730,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.