BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Trading 1% Higher Following Dividend Announcement

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) shares shot up 1% during trading on Wednesday after the company announced a dividend. The company traded as high as $1,063.96 and last traded at $1,061.71. 110,586 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 764,270 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1,051.20.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on BLK shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday, January 24th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.4 %

The company has a fifty day moving average price of $1,025.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $960.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $166.63 billion, a PE ratio of 25.62, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The firm 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 firm posted $9.66 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total value of $10,100,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,117,330. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 100,190 shares of company stock valued at $104,436,741 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BLK. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 89,389.4% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,046,131 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $993,312,000 after acquiring an additional 1,044,962 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 104,468.9% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 792,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,526,120,000 after purchasing an additional 791,874 shares during the period. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $343,976,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $330,662,000. Finally, FMR LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 10.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,244,608,000 after buying an additional 226,135 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is currently 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.