BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Short Interest Down 7.1% in April

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,690,000 shares, a drop of 7.1% from the March 31st total of 1,820,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 628,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.7 days. Currently, 1.2% of the company's shares are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on BLK shares. UBS Group lifted their target price on BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. TD Cowen raised BlackRock from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $819.00 to $938.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, 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 research note on Friday, April 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $845.42.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 3,418 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $781.11, for a total value of $2,669,833.98. Following the transaction, the director now owns 70,378 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $54,972,959.58. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 3,418 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $781.11, for a total value of $2,669,833.98. Following the transaction, the director now owns 70,378 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $54,972,959.58. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Marc D. Comerchero sold 450 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $785.11, for a total value of $353,299.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,975 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,691,032.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 82,511 shares of company stock valued at $66,778,367. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackRock

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,812,920,000. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 57.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,514,999 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,853,517,000 after buying an additional 1,279,952 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 23.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,918,878 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $3,181,346,000 after buying an additional 749,654 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 77,524.5% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 641,955 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $5,211,390,000 after buying an additional 641,128 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 24,171.5% during the first quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC now owns 416,014 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $346,831,000 after buying an additional 414,300 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BLK traded down $3.74 on Wednesday, hitting $750.90. The company had a trading volume of 614,792 shares, compared to its average volume of 621,771. The company's fifty day moving average price is $799.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $763.50. BlackRock has a 1-year low of $596.18 and a 1-year high of $845.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.48 and a quick ratio of 3.48. The stock has a market cap of $111.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.37.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.42 by $0.39. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.34% and a net margin of 32.26%. The firm had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $7.93 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that BlackRock will post 41.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.

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