BMO Capital Markets Increases BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Price Target to $1,300.00

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) had its price objective raised by equities research analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $1,280.00 to $1,300.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,MarketScreener reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the asset manager’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 15.31% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on BLK. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,301.00 to $1,407.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,299.29.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $1,127.42 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,140.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1,047.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $174.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.99, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.45. BlackRock has a 1-year low of $773.74 and a 1-year high of $1,219.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $11.78 by ($0.23). BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.36% and a net margin of 26.64%.The firm had revenue of $6.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $11.46 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Monday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,165.04, for a total transaction of $13,980,480.00. Following the sale, the director owned 7,205 shares in the company, valued at $8,394,113.20. The trade was a 62.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,120.50, for a total transaction of $19,207,611.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 61,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,763,964.50. This represents a 21.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 59,232 shares of company stock worth $67,055,346 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackRock

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,991,264 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $14,680,334,000 after buying an additional 227,192 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in BlackRock by 1.1% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,143,429 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,281,641,000 after acquiring an additional 34,049 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the second quarter valued at $2,644,007,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 72.5% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,005,358 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,104,122,000 after purchasing an additional 842,901 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 105,267.4% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,705,899 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,789,915,000 after purchasing an additional 1,704,280 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.