BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $1,019.62.

BLK has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target 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. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised 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. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,105.00 to $1,133.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.8 %

BlackRock stock opened at $1,036.46 on Monday. BlackRock has a 52 week low of $724.54 and a 52 week high of $1,068.34. The company has a quick ratio of 5.06, a current ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The company has a market capitalization of $160.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $984.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $880.90.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.42 by $1.04. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.37% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The company had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $10.91 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 43.17 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.35%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total value of $10,800,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,832,000. The trade was a 64.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackRock

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,983,583 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,681,472,000 after acquiring an additional 42,757 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% in the third 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 grew its position in 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 during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 1.9% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,192,247 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,081,561,000 after buying an additional 40,865 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

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.