BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Trading 0.2% Higher

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)’s share price traded up 0.2% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $838.38 and last traded at $836.50. 77,094 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 592,054 shares. The stock had previously closed at $835.12.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BLK. TD Cowen upgraded shares of BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $819.00 to $938.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $719.00 to $793.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of BlackRock from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $708.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, December 15th. BNP Paribas raised shares of BlackRock from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $885.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 12th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $720.00 to $818.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $785.73.

BlackRock Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $805.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $742.68. The company has a current ratio of 3.48, a quick ratio of 3.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market capitalization of $124.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.37.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 12th. The asset manager reported $9.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.84 by $0.82. The firm had revenue of $4.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 30.81% and a return on equity of 14.74%. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $8.93 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 39.81 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 7th were given a dividend of $5.10 per share. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.45%. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.00. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 6th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 55.88%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total transaction of $765,272.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,437 shares in the company, valued at $3,574,225.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Stephen Cohen sold 950 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $805.55, for a total value of $765,272.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,437 shares in the company, valued at $3,574,225.35. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total transaction of $25,089,701.76. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 414,146 shares in the company, valued at approximately $335,425,128.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 100,511 shares of company stock worth $71,864,028. 0.96% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BLK. West Tower Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 208.3% during the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 37 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by 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.