From MarketBeat:

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) saw a 20.2% increase in short interest in December, with a total of 2,140,000 shares sold short. Currently, 1.5% of the company’s shares are sold short, with a days-to-cover ratio of 3.1 days based on average daily trading volume of 680,600 shares.

Wall Street analysts have varied opinions on BLK shares, with price target reductions from some analysts. In contrast, BNP Paribas upgraded BlackRock to an “outperform” rating, with a price target of $885.00. Overall, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $771.54.

BlackRock stock fell 1.4% on Tuesday, reaching $800.30. The stock has a one-year low of $596.18 and a one-year high of $819.00 with a market cap of $119.05 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.45.

The last quarterly earnings report saw BlackRock reporting $10.91 earnings per share, with a revenue of $4.52 billion, beating analysts’ estimates. The company is expected to post 36.84 EPS for the current year.

In other news, BlackRock CEO Laurence Fink sold 15,385 shares of the stock at an average price of $652.03 in early November, leading to insides owning 1.06% of the company’s stock.

Finally, institutional investors have recently adjusted their stakes in BlackRock, with 77.01% of the stock owned by institutional investors. The firm primarily provides its services to institutional, intermediary, and individual investors.



Read more: BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest