StockNews.com Begins Coverage on BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)

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

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on BLK. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,245.00 to $1,261.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,155.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,103.33.

BlackRock Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of BLK stock opened at $995.02 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 5.06, a current ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,082.45. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $1,028.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $944.29. The stock has a market cap of $154.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.37% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $9.66 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 43.02 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.05%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.35%.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $6,777,432. This represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total value of $56,485,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BLK. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 89,389.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,046,131 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $993,312,000 after buying an additional 1,044,962 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 104,468.9% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 792,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,526,120,000 after acquiring an additional 791,874 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $330,662,000. FMR LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,244,608,000 after purchasing an additional 226,135 shares during the last quarter. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter worth about $115,377,000. 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.