BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Short Interest Up 32.7% in April

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,950,000 shares, an increase of 32.7% from the March 31st total of 1,470,000 shares. Approximately 1.4% of the company's stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 937,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.1 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group lowered their price target on BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on BlackRock from $1,065.00 to $1,035.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, BlackRock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,077.08.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $912.50, for a total transaction of $9,125,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 66,034 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $60,256,025. This trade represents a 13.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,430 shares of company stock valued at $11,237,249. Insiders own 1.98% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in BlackRock by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,376,606 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $13,712,493,000 after purchasing an additional 68,405 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,097,524 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $4,200,450,000 after purchasing an additional 93,844 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 104,598.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,500,083 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $3,312,759,000 after purchasing an additional 3,496,740 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,006,765 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $3,072,787,000 after buying an additional 190,188 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in BlackRock by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,390,450 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,450,475,000 after acquiring an additional 26,485 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company's stock.

BlackRock Trading Up 1.3 %

BLK stock traded up $12.33 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $928.47. The stock had a trading volume of 822,497 shares, compared to its average volume of 687,353. The firm has a market cap of $144.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.11, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. BlackRock has a twelve month low of $752.30 and a twelve month high of $1,084.22. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $916.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $981.38.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.84 by $0.46. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The business had revenue of $5.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.47 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $9.81 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.

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