BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Research Coverage Started at StockNews.com

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

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on BLK. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,124.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Bank of America dropped 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,077.08.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $866.65 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $934.74 and its 200 day moving average is $986.36. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market cap of $134.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.63, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $745.55 and a 52-week high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly 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. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The business had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $9.81 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $5.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.40%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 50.63%.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total transaction of $408,229.10. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,531,656.40. This trade represents a 10.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 20,430 shares of company stock worth $21,234,629. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackRock

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth about $66,000. Invst LLC boosted its position in BlackRock by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invst LLC now owns 2,435 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,312,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Wealthquest Corp acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter valued at approximately $225,000. Tudor Financial Inc. bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter worth about $399,000. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 31.8% in the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 791 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $751,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by 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.