BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $5.73

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be paid a dividend of 5.73 per share by the asset manager on Tuesday, September 22nd. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th.

BlackRock has increased its dividend payment by an average of 0.1%per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 16 consecutive years. BlackRock has a payout ratio of 45.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect BlackRock to earn $64.15 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $22.92 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 35.7%.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $1,056.84 on Thursday. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $917.39 and a fifty-two week high of $1,219.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a current ratio of 4.09. The stock has a market cap of $163.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.43. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $1,031.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $1,042.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $13.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $12.69 by $1.22. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.01% and a net margin of 24.09%.The business had revenue of $7.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $12.05 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 30.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that BlackRock will post 55.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,351.00 to $1,199.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of BlackRock from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $1,165.00 to $1,364.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Weiss Ratings upgraded BlackRock from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,270.00 to $1,320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $1,304.29.

About BlackRock

BlackRock, Inc is a global investment management firm that provides a broad range of products and services to institutional, intermediary and individual investors. Its core activities include portfolio management across active and index strategies, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) under the iShares brand, fixed income, equity and multi-asset solutions, as well as alternatives such as private equity, real estate and infrastructure. The firm also offers cash management and liquidity solutions and retirement-focused products designed for defined contribution and defined benefit investors.

In addition to traditional investment management, BlackRock is known for its technology and risk management capabilities, most prominently its Aladdin platform, which combines portfolio management, trading and risk analytics and is used both internally and licensed to external clients.