Analysts Set BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) PT at $932.71

Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eleven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $972.23.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BLK. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on BlackRock from $945.00 to $995.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $774.00 to $864.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $990.00 to $1,010.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on BlackRock from $842.00 to $837.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th.

BlackRock Trading Up 3.6 %

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $990.26 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $899.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $831.36. The firm has a market cap of $147.15 billion, a PE ratio of 25.17, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.30. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $596.18 and a 1 year high of $996.29. 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 (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.42 by $1.04. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.36% and a return on equity of 15.44%. The company had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $10.91 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that BlackRock will post 41.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were paid a dividend of $5.10 per share. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 51.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total value of $10,800,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,832,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total value of $10,800,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,832,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 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 value of $24,833,712.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $298,272,703.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 93,042 shares of company stock valued at $79,387,117 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackRock

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. XML Financial LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 2.6% in the second quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 473 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $372,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 937 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $890,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 226 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $177,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in BlackRock by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $822,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its holdings in BlackRock by 4.4% in the second quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 311 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $243,000 after buying an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.