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

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

BLK has been the subject of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,105.00 to $1,133.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,039.17.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $1,056.54 on Friday. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $745.55 and a 1 year high of $1,082.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $163.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.28. The company’s 50-day moving average is $1,015.33 and its 200 day moving average is $906.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.06 and a quick ratio of 5.06.

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. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $10.91 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock will post 43.18 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a dividend of $5.10 per share. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 50.35%.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total value of $56,485,620.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. This trade represents a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,777,432. This represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 108,190 shares of company stock valued at $113,161,681 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackRock

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp grew its position in BlackRock by 0.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,983,583 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,681,472,000 after buying an additional 42,757 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,816,577 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,663,330,000 after acquiring an additional 30,182 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,244,608,000 after purchasing an additional 226,135 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,192,247 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,081,561,000 after purchasing an additional 40,865 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in BlackRock by 2.9% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,665,044 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,310,762,000 after purchasing an additional 46,728 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.