BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Price Target Raised to $1,261.00

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) had its price objective boosted by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $1,245.00 to $1,261.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the asset manager’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective points to a potential upside of 21.93% from the company’s current price.

BLK has been the subject of several other research reports. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Sunday, December 15th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Evercore ISI upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,105.00 to $1,133.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,040.50.

BlackRock Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of BLK stock traded up $17.90 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $1,034.23. 404,586 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 591,614. The stock has a market cap of $160.18 billion, a PE ratio of 25.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.28. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $1,022.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $912.46. The company has a quick ratio of 5.06, a current ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. BlackRock has a 12 month low of $745.55 and a 12 month high of $1,082.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.42 by $1.04. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $10.91 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 43.18 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $6,777,432. This represents a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BLK. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $518,000. Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the third quarter worth about $32,904,000. Raymond James Trust N.A. boosted its position in BlackRock by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 27,092 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $25,724,000 after acquiring an additional 614 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 68,466 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $65,010,000 after acquiring an additional 1,852 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 20.4% in the third quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,338 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,169,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.