BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Sets New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. BlackRock traded as high as $962.95 and last traded at $953.70, with a volume of 240322 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $949.07.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on BLK. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,036.00 to $1,150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Argus raised their price objective on BlackRock from $880.00 to $910.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on BlackRock from $915.00 to $934.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Citigroup raised their price objective on BlackRock from $920.00 to $930.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on BlackRock in a research note on Friday, October 4th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $948.93.

Insider Activity

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 transaction of $10,800,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,832,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 29,450 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $843.25, for a total transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,832,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 93,042 shares of company stock worth $79,387,117 over the last 90 days. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the first quarter worth $27,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the second quarter worth $31,000. Lam Group Inc. purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the first quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Fairman Group LLC purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $141.72 billion, a PE ratio of 24.31, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.30. 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 50-day moving average price of $893.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $828.30.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $10.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.96 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $4.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.85 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.44% and a net margin of 32.36%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $9.28 earnings per share. Analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were given a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.84%.

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.