Short Interest in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Grows By 8.9%

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,960,000 shares, an increase of 8.9% from the September 30th total of 1,800,000 shares. Approximately 1.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 507,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.9 days.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BlackRock stock traded down $3.30 on Wednesday, hitting $979.87. The company had a trading volume of 427,831 shares, compared to its average volume of 570,466. The company has a market cap of $145.61 billion, a PE ratio of 24.99, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.06 and a quick ratio of 5.06. BlackRock has a 52 week low of $604.41 and a 52 week high of $1,032.00. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $933.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $847.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.42 by $1.04. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.44% and a net margin of 32.36%. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $10.91 earnings per share. BlackRock’s revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that BlackRock will post 41.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Pamela Daley sold 1,531 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $842.08, for a total transaction of $1,289,224.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,732 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,826,802.56. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other BlackRock news, Director Pamela Daley sold 1,531 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $842.08, for a total transaction of $1,289,224.48. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,732 shares in the company, valued at $4,826,802.56. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 29,450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $843.25, for a total transaction of $24,833,712.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 353,718 shares in the company, valued at $298,272,703.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,042 shares of company stock worth $56,857,777 over the last 90 days. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackRock

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 5.4% in the first quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 568 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $473,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 60.6% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 29,783 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $24,830,000 after purchasing an additional 11,243 shares during the last quarter. Carret Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 8.4% during the 1st quarter. Carret Asset Management LLC now owns 322 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $268,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,963 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,471,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup raised their price target on BlackRock from $920.00 to $930.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on BlackRock from $842.00 to $837.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Argus upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $880.00 to $910.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $995.31.

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.