BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in a research report report published on Wednesday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the asset manager’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on BLK. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on BlackRock from $1,105.00 to $1,133.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,155.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,070.08.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE:BLK opened at $985.59 on Wednesday. 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 twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,082.45. The stock has a market cap of $152.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $1,031.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $937.84.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.42 by $1.04. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $10.91 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that BlackRock will post 43.18 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 2.07%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.35%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,777,432. This represents a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 89,389.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,044,962 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted 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 worth $7,526,120,000 after acquiring an additional 791,874 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 10.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,244,608,000 after purchasing an additional 226,135 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in BlackRock in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $115,377,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 48.3% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 337,172 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $320,148,000 after acquiring an additional 109,771 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.