BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Trading 1.4% Higher

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) shot up 1.4% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $792.33 and last traded at $791.70. 99,070 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 600,622 shares. The stock had previously closed at $781.13.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on BLK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. UBS Group lifted their target price on BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $930.00 target price (up from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $845.42.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.8 %

The company has a quick ratio of 5.32, a current ratio of 5.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $779.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $792.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $117.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.01, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.34.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.42 by $0.39. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.24% and a net margin of 32.26%. The firm had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $7.93 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th were issued a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.59%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.84%.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total value of $7,155,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,151,600. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $807.29, for a total value of $25,008,229.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 383,168 shares in the company, valued at $309,327,694.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total value of $7,155,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,151,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter valued at approximately $303,000. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 37.8% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 34,797 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $22,496,000 after buying an additional 9,539 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 16.7% during the third quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 567 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $367,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the period. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 29.8% during the third quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,369 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $885,000 after buying an additional 314 shares during the period. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 177.7% in the third quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,613 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,336,000 after purchasing an additional 2,312 shares during the period. 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.