BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by Zacks Research

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

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on BLK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of BlackRock from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $1,165.00 to $1,364.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Barclays boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,340.00 to $1,450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. BNP Paribas Exane upped their price target 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered BlackRock from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,250.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,311.06.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.2%

BlackRock stock opened at $1,174.17 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $181.84 billion, a PE ratio of 28.06, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.42. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $917.39 and a 12-month high of $1,219.94. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $1,075.18 and its 200 day moving average is $1,045.98. The company has a quick ratio of 3.59, a current ratio of 3.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackRock

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in BlackRock by 96,671.4% during the 2nd 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 purchasing an additional 213,592,496 shares during the last quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 27.1% in the second quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 1,686 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,621,000 after purchasing an additional 360 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 110.6% in the second quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,070 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,028,000 after purchasing an additional 562 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.9% in the second quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,506 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,597,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 52.4% in the second quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 189 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $182,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

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.