BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Shares Up 0.6%

Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) rose 0.6% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $767.48 and last traded at $762.38. Approximately 88,196 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 86% from the average daily volume of 621,361 shares. The stock had previously closed at $757.65.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the topic of several recent research reports. TD Cowen raised shares of BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $819.00 to $938.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $930.00 price target (up previously from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $845.42.

BlackRock Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $113.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.37. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $802.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $759.32. The company has a current ratio of 3.48, a quick ratio of 3.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.42 by $0.39. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.34%. The company had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $7.93 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 3,418 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $781.11, for a total value of $2,669,833.98. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 3,418 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $781.11, for a total value of $2,669,833.98. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total transaction of $25,089,701.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 414,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $335,425,128.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 82,511 shares of company stock valued at $66,778,367 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Emerald Advisors LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Emerald Advisors LLC now owns 1,048 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $851,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the period. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors grew its position in BlackRock by 1.9% during the third quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 1,101 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $712,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in BlackRock by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. now owns 764 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $620,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd bought a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $439,000. Finally, Patten & Patten Inc. TN bought a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $205,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.