BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) shot up 0.9% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $761.23 and last traded at $760.63. 100,040 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 620,208 shares. The stock had previously closed at $753.79.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BLK. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated 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. TD Cowen upgraded BlackRock from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $819.00 to $938.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. UBS Group increased their price target on BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $845.42.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.9 %

The stock has a market cap of $111.27 billion, a PE ratio of 19.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.37. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $806.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $755.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.48 and a quick ratio of 3.48.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.42 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.34% and a net margin of 32.26%. The firm's revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $7.93 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, 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 value of $25,089,701.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 414,146 shares in the company, valued at $335,425,128.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, 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 value of $25,089,701.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 414,146 shares in the company, valued at $335,425,128.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 18,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.54, for a total transaction of $5,085,660.60. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 11,914 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,366,142.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 100,511 shares of company stock worth $71,864,028. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Fairfield Bush & CO. bought a new stake in BlackRock in the first quarter worth about $115,000. United Bank raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 17.1% during the first quarter. United Bank now owns 1,287 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $983,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.6% during the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,978 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,512,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 35.4% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,025 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $783,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 11.7% during the first quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,452 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,110,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company's stock.

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.