BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Coverage Initiated at StockNews.com

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLKFree Report) in a report released on Tuesday. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Citigroup increased their target price 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. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,120.00 to $1,220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,063.00.

Check Out Our Latest Report on BLK

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $1,025.11 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a current ratio of 5.06. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $745.55 and a 52-week high of $1,082.45. The company has a fifty day moving average of $1,028.62 and a 200-day moving average of $929.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $158.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLKGet Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.42 by $1.04. The business had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.37% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The company’s revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $10.91 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that BlackRock will post 43.18 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 50.35%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the second quarter worth about $31,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 81.5% in the 3rd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 49 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

About BlackRock

(Get Free Report)

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.

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Analyst Recommendations for BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)

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