BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Trading Up 0.2%

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report)'s share price traded up 0.2% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $758.63 and last traded at $752.79. 102,563 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 615,362 shares. The stock had previously closed at $751.58.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of BlackRock from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $819.00 to $938.00 in a research 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 stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $930.00 target price (up previously from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $845.42.

BlackRock Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 3.48 and a current ratio of 3.48. The stock has a market cap of $112.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.37. The company's 50 day moving average price is $798.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $763.46.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.34%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $7.93 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, CFO Martin Small sold 7,036 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $786.36, for a total transaction of $5,532,828.96. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 5,259 shares in the company, valued at $4,135,467.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Marc D. Comerchero sold 450 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $785.11, for a total value of $353,299.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,975 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,691,032.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Martin Small sold 7,036 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $786.36, for a total value of $5,532,828.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 5,259 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,135,467.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 79,093 shares of company stock valued at $64,108,533 over the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackRock

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 671.4% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 54 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 42,689 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $27,598,000 after acquiring an additional 675 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its position in BlackRock by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 21,011 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $13,583,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at $318,000. Finally, Raymond James & Associates grew its position in BlackRock by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 276,276 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $178,610,000 after acquiring an additional 4,324 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.