BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Price Target Raised to $1,040.00

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) had its target price hoisted by Evercore ISI from $995.00 to $1,040.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the asset manager’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on BLK. UBS Group lowered their target price on BlackRock from $842.00 to $837.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on BlackRock from $912.00 to $937.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on BlackRock from $774.00 to $864.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Argus raised their price objective on BlackRock from $880.00 to $910.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $991.46.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK stock opened at $1,015.70 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $909.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $834.95. The stock has a market cap of $150.93 billion, a PE ratio of 25.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 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. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $596.18 and a 1 year high of $1,019.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.42 by $1.04. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.44% and a net margin of 32.36%. The company’s revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $10.91 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 41.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th were issued a dividend of $5.10 per share. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 51.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the firm’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 sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,832,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the firm’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 sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,832,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 29,450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 66,042 shares of company stock worth $56,857,777. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackRock

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in 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 during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 11.1% in 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 buying an additional 435,358 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.9% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,665,044 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,310,762,000 after buying an additional 46,728 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.9% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,197,274 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $942,640,000 after buying an additional 22,311 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.6% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 685,456 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $539,673,000 after buying an additional 17,087 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.