Morgan Stanley Boosts BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Price Target to $1,025.00

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) had its target price raised by Morgan Stanley from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 in a report published on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the asset manager’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on BLK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of BlackRock from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and increased their price target for the company from $819.00 to $938.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an outperform rating and set a $930.00 price target (up from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $845.42.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of BLK opened at $747.08 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $805.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $755.13. The company has a market capitalization of $111.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.37. 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 has a 1-year low of $596.18 and a 1-year high of $845.00.

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

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total value of $765,272.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,437 shares in the company, valued at $3,574,225.35. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total value of $765,272.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,437 shares in the company, valued at $3,574,225.35. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total transaction of $25,089,701.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 414,146 shares in the company, valued at approximately $335,425,128.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 100,511 shares of company stock worth $71,864,028 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackRock

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Emerald Advisors LLC lifted its position in BlackRock by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Emerald Advisors LLC now owns 1,048 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $851,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the period. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 1,101 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $712,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. now owns 764 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $620,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $205,000. Finally, Sara Bay Financial purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $387,000. Hedge funds and other 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.