by winston » Wed Feb 19, 2020 1:43 pm
not vested
BlackRock Inc. (BLK)
On Wall Street, BlackRock is known as one of the largest asset managers in the world. Pulling the trigger on BLK in the fourth quarter, Bridgewater purchased over 32,000 shares for $16.1 million.
Following the company’s solid quarterly performance, several analysts also see the stock as a Buy.
In Q4, BLK posted EPS of $8.34, well above the $7.66 consensus estimate. In addition, long-term inflows surpassed the Street’s $82 billion projection, landing at $99 billion or a 6.1% annualized pace.
While higher opex led to an operating margin compression of 254 basis points to 43.5%, Morgan Stanley’s Michael Cyprys thinks the print was positive overall.
“4Q19 results this morning demonstrate BLK's ability to continue delivering strong organic growth,” the four-star analyst explained. On top of this, he pointed out, “Debunking ‘too big to grow fears,’ BLK delivered 7%-plus organic asset growth for the full year 2019, which is an acceleration from 2.1%-plus organic growth in 2018 and 4.3%-plus average growth rate over last five years. Importantly, strong net new money growth translated into 5% organic base fee growth in 2019, better than the 2% growth in 2018.”
Based on this report, Cyprys expects other analysts to make adjustments to their outlooks for 2020. “Higher AUM levels, better fee rate, and strong organic growth trajectory should support upward revisions to consensus EPS, despite higher core G&A expense guidance into 2020,” he noted.
With the company also hoping to receive the board’s approval for a dividend increase, the deal is sealed for Cyprys. In line with his bullish take on the financial stock, he left both his Overweight rating and $603 price target unchanged. Should the target be met, a twelve-month gain of 7% could be in the cards. (To watch Cyprys’ track record, click here)
In general, the rest of the Street is on the same page. With 7 Buys and 2 Holds received in the last three months, the consensus rating comes in as a Strong Buy.
Source: TipRanks
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