BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Stock Rating Lowered by Zacks Research

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) was downgraded by analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on BLK. Bank of America upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,298.00 to $1,320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,300.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $1,258.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a report on Thursday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of BlackRock from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $1,165.00 to $1,364.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $1,389.00 price target on shares of BlackRock in a report on Thursday, July 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,311.06.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $1,174.17 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $1,075.18 and a 200-day moving average of $1,045.98. The company has a current ratio of 3.59, a quick ratio of 3.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. BlackRock has a 1-year low of $917.39 and a 1-year high of $1,219.94. The company has a market cap of $181.84 billion, a PE ratio of 28.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.42.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $13.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $12.69 by $1.22. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.90% and a net margin of 24.09%.The firm had revenue of $7.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.73 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $12.05 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 30.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 55.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackRock

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BLK. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 96,671.4% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 213,813,443 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $205,594,454,000 after buying an additional 213,592,496 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 2nd quarter worth about $9,747,857,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 5,190.3% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,490,422 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,876,618,000 after acquiring an additional 5,386,640 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 2nd quarter worth about $4,409,095,000. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,742,680,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key BlackRock News

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has processed more than $5 billion in tax-deferred conversions from directly held Bitcoin. Reducing the minimum conversion size from $25 million to $1 million could make the product accessible to more wealthy investors and institutions, potentially supporting assets under management and fee revenue. However, these transactions transfer existing Bitcoin into the ETF rather than representing equivalent new cash inflows. Bitcoin to $100K? BlackRock’s $5B ETF Shift Pulls More BTC Into Wall Street
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street analysts remain broadly optimistic about BlackRock’s growth prospects and target price, despite the shares’ strong multiyear advance. What Are Wall Street Analysts’ Target Price for BlackRock Stock?
• Neutral Sentiment: BlackRock named Jessica Tan to lead its global product unit, a management change that could influence future product development and distribution but whose financial impact is not yet clear. BlackRock names Jessica Tan to head global product unit
• Neutral Sentiment: The company announced final August cash distributions for the iShares Premium Money Market ETF. The announcement is routine and primarily affects fund investors rather than BlackRock’s corporate earnings. BlackRock Canada Announces Final August Cash Distributions
• Negative Sentiment: Rosen Law Firm said it is investigating potential securities claims involving BlackRock mutual funds, alleging that the company may have issued materially misleading business information. The announcement does not establish wrongdoing, but it introduces potential legal, reputational and financial risk. BlackRock Investor News: Rosen Law Firm Investigation
• Negative Sentiment: One valuation review says BlackRock now trades near fair value on intrinsic estimates and looks expensive on earnings multiples after an approximately 82% three-year return, limiting near-term upside unless earnings and fee growth accelerate. BlackRock Stock Looks Fully Valued After an 82% Run

About BlackRock

BlackRock, Inc is a global investment management firm that provides a broad range of products and services to institutional, intermediary and individual investors. Its core activities include portfolio management across active and index strategies, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) under the iShares brand, fixed income, equity and multi-asset solutions, as well as alternatives such as private equity, real estate and infrastructure. The firm also offers cash management and liquidity solutions and retirement-focused products designed for defined contribution and defined benefit investors.

In addition to traditional investment management, BlackRock is known for its technology and risk management capabilities, most prominently its Aladdin platform, which combines portfolio management, trading and risk analytics and is used both internally and licensed to external clients.