BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Research Coverage Started at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in a research report report published on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued an overweight rating and a $1,000.00 price target on the asset manager’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on BlackRock from $912.00 to $937.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $985.00 to $990.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. UBS Group lowered 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. Evercore ISI upped their price target on BlackRock from $920.00 to $945.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Argus raised their price objective on BlackRock from $880.00 to $910.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $902.13.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BLK stock opened at $885.73 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $857.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $814.50. BlackRock has a 52 week low of $596.18 and a 52 week high of $903.46. The stock has a market cap of $131.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a current ratio of 5.06.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $10.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.96 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $4.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.85 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.36% and a return on equity of 15.44%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $9.28 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 41.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.30%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.84%.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, Director Pamela Daley sold 1,531 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $842.08, for a total value of $1,289,224.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,732 shares in the company, valued at $4,826,802.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Pamela Daley sold 1,531 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $842.08, for a total transaction of $1,289,224.48. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,732 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,826,802.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 11,061 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $852.95, for a total transaction of $9,434,479.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,527,116. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 93,042 shares of company stock valued at $79,387,117. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 2nd quarter worth about $24,957,000. SRN Advisors LLC boosted its position in BlackRock by 45.1% in the second quarter. SRN Advisors LLC now owns 2,155 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,697,000 after buying an additional 670 shares in the last quarter. Farmers National Bank grew its stake in BlackRock by 1.3% during the second quarter. Farmers National Bank now owns 7,605 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,988,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.3% during the second quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,089 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,432,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New Century Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 245.2% in the second quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC now owns 901 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $709,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

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.