BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Price Target Cut to $1,178.00 by Analysts at Bank of America

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) had its price objective dropped by equities researchers at Bank of America from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the asset manager’s stock. Bank of America‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 43.24% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on BLK. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Barclays cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on BlackRock in a report on Saturday, March 29th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,130.85.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK opened at $822.38 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $127.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.58, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $968.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $991.65. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $745.55 and a 12-month high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $9.66 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,403,973.12. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In the last quarter, insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackRock

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BLK. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the third quarter worth approximately $518,000. Amalgamated Bank lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 28,711 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $29,432,000 after acquiring an additional 489 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its position in BlackRock by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 12,480 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $12,793,000 after purchasing an additional 578 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in BlackRock by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 65,396 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $67,038,000 after purchasing an additional 4,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.8% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 68,466 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $65,010,000 after buying an additional 1,852 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

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.