BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seventeen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $1,299.2941.

BLK has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,310.00 to $1,360.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,093.00 to $1,242.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,163.00 to $1,312.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Zacks Research cut BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $1,127.42 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $1,140.24 and a 200-day moving average of $1,047.41. BlackRock has a one year low of $773.74 and a one year high of $1,219.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 4.04 and a quick ratio of 4.04. The stock has a market cap of $174.58 billion, a PE ratio of 28.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.45.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,165.04, for a total value of $13,980,480.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,205 shares in the company, valued at $8,394,113.20. This trade represents a 62.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director owned 61,369 shares in the company, valued at $68,763,964.50. This trade represents a 21.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 ninety days. Insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

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