BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the ten research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $844.17.

BLK has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $915.00 target price on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of BLK stock opened at $789.12 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $117.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.32. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $596.18 and a 1 year high of $845.00. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $780.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $792.72. The company has a current ratio of 5.32, a quick ratio of 5.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.42 by $0.39. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.24%. The company had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $7.93 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that BlackRock will post 41.25 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th were issued a dividend of $5.10 per share. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 51.84%.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total value of $7,155,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,151,600. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total value of $7,155,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,151,600. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $807.29, for a total transaction of $25,008,229.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 383,168 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $309,327,694.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackRock

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BLK. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Finally, LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 208.3% during the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 37 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is 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.