Short Interest in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Decreases By 13.9%

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,360,000 shares, a drop of 13.9% from the December 15th total of 1,580,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 662,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.1 days. Approximately 1.0% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $6,777,432. This trade represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total value of $56,485,620.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at $43,845,393.48. This trade 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 Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BLK. One Capital Management LLC increased its stake in BlackRock by 31.7% in the 2nd quarter. One Capital Management LLC now owns 324 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $255,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new position in BlackRock in the 2nd quarter worth about $383,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its stake in BlackRock by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 16,108 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $12,682,000 after purchasing an additional 1,019 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL increased its stake in BlackRock by 12.0% in the 2nd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 53,332 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $41,989,000 after purchasing an additional 5,730 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Waterloo Capital L.P. increased its stake in BlackRock by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. now owns 765 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $602,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BLK. Citigroup raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Barclays cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com started coverage on BlackRock in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,103.33.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BLK traded up $8.51 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $1,004.23. 1,079,196 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 610,586. BlackRock has a 52 week low of $745.55 and a 52 week high of $1,082.45. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $1,027.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $947.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.06 and a quick ratio of 5.06. The company has a market cap of $155.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.78, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.37% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The company’s revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $9.66 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 43.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a dividend of $5.10 per share. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 50.35%.

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.