BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Price Target Cut to $988.00 by Analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) had its price objective cut by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $1,046.00 to $988.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Citigroup increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price target on BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,077.08.

BlackRock Stock Down 2.5 %

NYSE BLK opened at $866.65 on Monday. BlackRock has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,084.22. The stock has a market cap of $134.55 billion, a PE ratio of 20.63, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $934.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $986.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.84 by $0.46. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The company had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.47 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $9.81 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $5.21 dividend. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total value of $408,229.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,531,656.40. This represents a 10.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackRock

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BLK. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 104,598.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,500,083 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,312,759,000 after purchasing an additional 3,496,740 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,356,357,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 401.5% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,095,241 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,122,743,000 after buying an additional 876,836 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 138,682.5% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 634,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $634,000 after buying an additional 633,779 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $572,730,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Company Profile

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.