Brokerages Set BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Price Target at $1,120.67

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twelve analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $1,120.67.

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on BLK shares. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered 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, January 13th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd.

BlackRock Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $947.96 on Wednesday. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $745.55 and a 52-week high of $1,084.22. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $994.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $985.86. The firm has a market cap of $146.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $9.66 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 49.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total value of $10,726,400.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,403,973.12. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter valued at approximately $518,000. Amalgamated Bank lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 28,711 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $29,432,000 after buying an additional 489 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 12,480 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $12,793,000 after buying an additional 578 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,904,000. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.3% during the third quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 27,092 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $25,724,000 after buying an additional 614 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.