BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $1,063.00.

BLK has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Monday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total value of $56,485,620.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now 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 SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,777,432. The trade was a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackRock

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 89,389.4% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,046,131 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $993,312,000 after purchasing an additional 1,044,962 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 104,468.9% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 792,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,526,120,000 after buying an additional 791,874 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 10.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,244,608,000 after acquiring an additional 226,135 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter worth $115,377,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 48.3% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 337,172 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $320,148,000 after purchasing an additional 109,771 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE:BLK opened at $1,054.83 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $163.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,082.45. The company has a fifty day moving average of $1,024.06 and a 200-day moving average of $917.84. The company has a quick ratio of 5.06, a current ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.42 by $1.04. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.37% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $10.91 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 43.18 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a dividend of $5.10 per share. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.35%.

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.