Topic: How To Invest

Hi, Pat: Can you please give your advice/opinion on BlackRock stock as investment? Thanks so much!

Article Excerpt

BlackRock Inc., $353.45, symbol BLK on New York (Shares outstanding: 164.6 million; Market cap: $58.5 billion; www.blackrock.com), is one of the world’s largest publicly traded investment management firms. The company manages $4.8 trillion of assets on behalf of institutions and individuals through a variety of equity, fixed-income, cash-management, alternative-investment and advisory products. In the three months ended March 31, 2015, BlackRock’s earnings rose 8.9%, to $830 million, or $4.89 a share, from $762 million, or $4.43, a year earlier. Rising stock markets and strong demand from individual and institutional clients were behind the gain. In the latest quarter, BlackRock attracted $70 billion of new capital. About half of that went to the company’s iShares exchange traded funds, with a focus on European products and global fixed-income offerings. The company’s outlook is positive, especially as the global economy recovers. Its balance sheet is strong, which will help it continue to acquire smaller asset managers and ETF providers. BlackRock is okay to hold. hold. …