Morgan Stanley Raises BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Price Target to $1,245.00

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) had its price target upped by Morgan Stanley from $1,150.00 to $1,245.00 in a research report report published on Monday, Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the asset manager’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on BlackRock from $915.00 to $934.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Citigroup upped their price target on BlackRock from $920.00 to $930.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on BlackRock from $912.00 to $937.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Saturday, October 12th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $991.46.

BlackRock Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE BLK opened at $1,001.88 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $148.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.30. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $596.18 and a fifty-two week high of $1,032.00. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $912.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $836.11. 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 (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.42 by $1.04. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.36% and a return on equity of 15.44%. The business 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 business posted $10.91 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 41.73 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th were issued a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 51.84%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Pamela Daley sold 1,531 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $842.08, for a total value of $1,289,224.48. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,732 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,826,802.56. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Pamela Daley sold 1,531 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $842.08, for a total value of $1,289,224.48. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,732 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,826,802.56. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 11,061 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $852.95, for a total transaction of $9,434,479.95. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,527,116. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,042 shares of company stock valued at $56,857,777 over the last ninety days. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BLK. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 1st quarter worth $27,000. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock during the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Lam Group Inc. purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the first quarter worth about $33,000. Fairman Group LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Chilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 1st quarter valued at about $38,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.