BlackRock, Inc. to Post Q1 2024 Earnings of $9.00 Per Share, Zacks Research Forecasts (NYSE:BLK)

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) – Stock analysts at Zacks Research increased their Q1 2024 earnings estimates for BlackRock in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, March 26th. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now anticipates that the asset manager will post earnings of $9.00 per share for the quarter, up from their prior estimate of $8.91. The consensus estimate for BlackRock’s current full-year earnings is $39.81 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for BlackRock’s Q2 2024 earnings at $9.65 EPS, Q3 2024 earnings at $9.73 EPS, Q4 2024 earnings at $10.25 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $38.63 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $10.92 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $10.71 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $11.04 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $11.85 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $44.53 EPS.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 12th. The asset manager reported $9.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.84 by $0.82. The business had revenue of $4.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 30.81%. The company’s revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $8.93 EPS.

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

BlackRock Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE:BLK opened at $832.59 on Wednesday. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $596.18 and a 52-week high of $845.00. The company has a quick ratio of 3.48, a current ratio of 3.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $805.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $742.68. The company has a market capitalization of $124.01 billion, a PE ratio of 22.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.37.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total value of $29,498,425.54. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,004 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,910,292.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 414,146 shares in the company, valued at $335,425,128.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 36,059 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $818.06, for a total value of $29,498,425.54. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 17,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,910,292.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 100,511 shares of company stock worth $71,864,028 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackRock

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,812,920,000. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 57.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,514,999 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,853,517,000 after purchasing an additional 1,279,952 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 23.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,918,878 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,181,346,000 after buying an additional 749,654 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 104,159.9% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 697,499 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $494,269,000 after buying an additional 696,830 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 77,524.5% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 641,955 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,211,390,000 after acquiring an additional 641,128 shares in the last quarter. 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.