BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) to a strong-buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on BLK. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $980.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Zacks Research downgraded BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,213.67.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BLK opened at $1,160.75 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,129.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1,027.68. The company has a market capitalization of $179.74 billion, a PE ratio of 28.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.45. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $773.74 and a 1 year high of $1,183.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 4.04 and a quick ratio of 4.04.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.41 by $1.64. The business had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.40 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.53% and a net margin of 29.68%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $10.36 EPS. Research analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were given a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.39%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,125.43, for a total value of $13,565,933.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 251,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $283,267,354.71. This represents a 4.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,122.81, for a total value of $4,978,539.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,936,571.86. The trade was a 55.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackRock

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Jackson Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Jackson Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,637 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,240,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 27.2% during the 3rd quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,175 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,370,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,614 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,379,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares in the last quarter. Investors Research Corp boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 1,441 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,680,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs & Co. CA bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at about $230,000. 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.