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

by · The Cerbat Gem

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK – Free Report) in a research note published on Saturday. The firm issued a hold rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on BLK. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,036.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $912.00 to $937.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on BlackRock from $842.00 to $837.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $991.46.

Read Our Latest Report on BLK

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE:BLK opened at $991.72 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $902.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $832.46. The company has a current ratio of 5.06, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. BlackRock has a twelve month low of $596.18 and a twelve month high of $1,001.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $147.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.20, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.30.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.42 by $1.04. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.44% and a net margin of 32.36%. The company had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $10.91 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that BlackRock will post 41.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were issued a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 29,450 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $843.25, for a total value of $24,833,712.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,718 shares in the company, valued at $298,272,703.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 29,450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $843.25, for a total value of $24,833,712.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,718 shares in the company, valued at approximately $298,272,703.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 11,061 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $852.95, for a total transaction of $9,434,479.95. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,527,116. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,042 shares of company stock worth $56,857,777 over the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackRock

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,182,262 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,990,052,000 after purchasing an additional 292,017 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in BlackRock by 11.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,354,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,630,127,000 after buying an additional 435,358 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in BlackRock by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,015,337 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,636,052,000 after buying an additional 47,128 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,665,044 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,310,762,000 after buying an additional 46,728 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,197,274 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $942,640,000 after acquiring an additional 22,311 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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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