BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Earns Hold Rating from Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in a research note released on Thursday. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the asset manager’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $842.00 to $837.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an overweight rating and a $1,000.00 price target on the stock. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of BlackRock from $974.00 to $969.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 8th. Argus increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $880.00 to $910.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $985.00 to $990.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $902.13.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK stock opened at $945.21 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $140.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.02, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.06 and a quick ratio of 5.06. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $596.18 and a 1 year high of $952.75. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $879.35 and a 200 day moving average of $821.74.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $10.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.96 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $4.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.85 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.36% and a return on equity of 15.44%. The business’s revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $9.28 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 41.37 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th were given a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.16%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 51.84%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total value of $10,800,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,832,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,832,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 29,450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $298,272,703.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 93,042 shares of company stock worth $79,387,117. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Lam Group Inc. bought a new stake in BlackRock in the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Fairman Group LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. 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.