BlackRock Plans Quarterly Dividend of $5.21 (NYSE:BLK)

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, November 19th. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of 5.21 per share by the asset manager on Tuesday, December 23rd. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th.

BlackRock has increased its dividend by an average of 0.1%annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 16 years. BlackRock has a payout ratio of 41.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect BlackRock to earn $54.05 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $20.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 38.6%.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $1,014.53 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $157.41 billion, a PE ratio of 26.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.48. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $773.74 and a 1 year high of $1,219.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 4.04 and a quick ratio of 4.04. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $1,122.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $1,077.17.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $11.78 by ($0.23). The company had revenue of $6.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.22 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 26.64% and a return on equity of 15.36%. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $11.46 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the topic of a number of research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,280.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,362.00 to $1,486.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,160.00 to $1,265.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,302.53.

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.