Barclays Has Lowered Expectations for BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Stock Price

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) had its price objective dropped by investment analysts at Barclays from $1,210.00 to $950.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the asset manager’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 14.06% from the stock’s current price.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Sunday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,114.69.

BlackRock Stock Up 1.2 %

NYSE BLK traded up $10.28 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $832.90. The stock had a trading volume of 448,055 shares, compared to its average volume of 671,515. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $968.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $992.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 5.23 and a quick ratio of 5.23. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,084.22. The stock has a market cap of $129.31 billion, a PE ratio of 20.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $9.66 earnings per share. BlackRock’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total value of $10,100,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,117,330. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackRock

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BLK. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the third quarter valued at $518,000. Amalgamated Bank raised its position 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 buying an additional 489 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 12,480 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $12,793,000 after acquiring an additional 578 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in BlackRock by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 65,396 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $67,038,000 after acquiring an additional 4,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 48.2% in the 4th quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 39,539 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $40,532,000 after purchasing an additional 12,864 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.