Citi analyst Christopher Allen maintained a Buy rating on BlackRock (BLK – Research Report) today and set a price target of $1,200.00.
Christopher Allen has given his Buy rating due to a combination of factors that highlight BlackRock’s strong financial performance. The company’s adjusted earnings per share significantly exceeded expectations, coming in at $11.30 compared to the estimated $9.85 and the FactSet consensus of $10.19. This outperformance was primarily driven by a lower-than-anticipated tax rate, which contributed an additional $1.22 to the earnings estimate.
Furthermore, BlackRock’s revenues were in line with projections, and the company demonstrated solid organic base fee growth of 6%. The fee rates also showed improvement, particularly in alternative investments, which performed better than expected. Additionally, the company’s adjusted operating expenses were largely as anticipated, with lower compensation costs balancing out higher general and administrative expenses. The overall positive financial results, including better-than-expected flows of $84 billion, support the Buy rating for BlackRock’s stock.
In another report released today, Bank of America Securities also reiterated a Buy rating on the stock with a $1,178.00 price target.
Based on the recent corporate insider activity of 119 insiders, corporate insider sentiment is negative on the stock. This means that over the past quarter there has been an increase of insiders selling their shares of BLK in relation to earlier this year.