BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Now Covered by Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in a research note released on Friday morning. The firm issued a hold rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $985.00 to $990.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $920.00 to $930.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of BlackRock from $842.00 to $837.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $912.00 to $937.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $943.93.

BlackRock Price Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $940.53 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $139.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.91, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 5.06, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $890.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $826.73. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $596.18 and a 12-month high of $960.74.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $10.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.96 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $4.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.85 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.44% and a net margin of 32.36%. The company’s revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $9.28 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 41.37 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th were given a dividend of $5.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.17%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.84%.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 29,450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $843.25, for a total transaction of $24,833,712.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 353,718 shares in the company, valued at $298,272,703.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 29,450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $843.25, for a total transaction of $24,833,712.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 353,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $298,272,703.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total transaction of $10,800,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,832,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 93,042 shares of company stock valued at $79,387,117 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BLK. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 11.1% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,354,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,630,127,000 after acquiring an additional 435,358 shares during the last quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 24,171.5% in the 1st quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC now owns 416,014 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $346,831,000 after purchasing an additional 414,300 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,182,262 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,990,052,000 after acquiring an additional 292,017 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc bought a new stake in BlackRock in the first quarter worth $161,918,000. Finally, Mubadala Investment Co PJSC purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at about $147,748,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.