BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Now Covered by Analysts at StockNews.com

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

A number of other brokerages have also commented on BLK. Citigroup lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays lowered their price target on BlackRock from $1,210.00 to $950.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,077.08.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $891.02 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $939.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $987.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $138.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $745.55 and a 12-month high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.84 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $5.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.47 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $9.81 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total transaction of $408,229.10. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,531,656.40. The trade was a 10.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders sold a total of 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629 in the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BLK. IAG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Investment Management Corp VA ADV acquired a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Collier Financial bought a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

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.