BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Price Target Lowered to $1,178.00 at Bank of America

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) had its target price decreased by Bank of America from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the asset manager’s stock.

BLK has been the subject of a number of other reports. StockNews.com assumed coverage on BlackRock in a report on Saturday, March 29th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,053.00 to $1,046.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,130.85.

BlackRock Price Performance

NYSE:BLK opened at $887.47 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23. The company has a 50-day moving average of $972.74 and a 200-day moving average of $992.16. BlackRock has a 52 week low of $745.55 and a 52 week high of $1,084.22. The company has a market capitalization of $137.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.13, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $9.66 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.35%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.62%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,531,656.40. This represents a 10.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629 in the last 90 days. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,356,357,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 401.5% in 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 valued at $1,122,743,000 after buying an additional 876,836 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in BlackRock by 138,682.5% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 634,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $634,000 after buying an additional 633,779 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $572,730,000. Finally, Amundi bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth about $528,792,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.