BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Receives $1,120.67 Average Price Target from Analysts

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $1,120.67.

BLK has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on BlackRock in a research note on Sunday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. UBS Group raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th.

BlackRock Stock Down 1.5 %

BLK stock opened at $973.54 on Friday. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22. The business’s 50-day moving average is $1,023.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $971.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23. The company has a market cap of $150.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $9.66 earnings per share. BlackRock’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.44 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.57%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total value of $56,485,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total value of $10,100,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,117,330. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackRock

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,376,606 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,712,493,000 after acquiring an additional 68,405 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,983,583 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,681,472,000 after purchasing an additional 42,757 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,006,765 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,072,787,000 after purchasing an additional 190,188 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,244,608,000 after buying an additional 226,135 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth $2,356,357,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

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.