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

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

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Stock Up 3.1 %

NYSE:BLK opened at $928.74 on Thursday. BlackRock has a 52 week low of $745.55 and a 52 week high of $1,084.22. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $983.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $986.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $144.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.29. 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 (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $9.66 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.24%. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.62%.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total value of $10,100,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,117,330. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackRock

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Investment Management Corp VA ADV purchased a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Collier Financial purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

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.