BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,960,000 shares, an increase of 8.9% from the September 30th total of 1,800,000 shares. Currently, 1.4% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 507,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.9 days.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Pamela Daley sold 1,531 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $842.08, for a total value of $1,289,224.48. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,732 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,826,802.56. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Director Pamela Daley sold 1,531 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $842.08, for a total value of $1,289,224.48. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,732 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,826,802.56. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 29,450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $843.25, for a total value of $24,833,712.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,718 shares in the company, valued at approximately $298,272,703.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 66,042 shares of company stock worth $56,857,777. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BLK. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 89,389.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,046,131 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $993,312,000 after purchasing an additional 1,044,962 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 104,468.9% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 792,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,526,120,000 after purchasing an additional 791,874 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in BlackRock by 11.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,354,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,630,127,000 after purchasing an additional 435,358 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in BlackRock by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,182,262 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,990,052,000 after purchasing an additional 292,017 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the first quarter worth $161,918,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK traded up $0.73 during trading on Thursday, reaching $980.60. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 607,791 shares, compared to its average volume of 570,643. The company has a quick ratio of 5.06, a current ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $937.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $849.30. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $604.41 and a 1 year high of $1,032.00. The company has a market cap of $145.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.20, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.30.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.42 by $1.04. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.36% and a return on equity of 15.44%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $10.91 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 41.73 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on BLK shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Monday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $842.00 to $837.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $912.00 to $937.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $995.31.

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.