BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Price Target Raised to $1,301.00

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) had its price target boosted by TD Cowen from $1,252.00 to $1,301.00 in a research note released on Wednesday,MarketScreener reports. TD Cowen currently has a buy rating on the asset manager’s stock.

BLK has been the topic of a number of other reports. Zacks Research downgraded BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,224.00 to $1,396.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,210.00 to $1,310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,258.56.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE:BLK opened at $1,132.12 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $175.31 billion, a PE ratio of 27.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.45. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $1,134.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $1,034.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 4.04 and a quick ratio of 4.04. BlackRock has a 12 month low of $773.74 and a 12 month high of $1,184.13.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.41 by $1.64. BlackRock had a net margin of 29.68% and a return on equity of 15.53%. The business had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.40 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $10.36 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.39%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 14,828 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,122.28, for a total transaction of $16,641,167.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 263,751 shares in the company, valued at $296,002,472.28. This represents a 5.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 18,036 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,125.60, for a total transaction of $20,301,321.60. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 19,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,617,148. This represents a 48.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573. 1.98% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BLK. Welch Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 760 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $797,000 after buying an additional 9 shares during the period. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.7% during the second quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 340 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $357,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares during the period. CNB Bank raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 9.6% during the second quarter. CNB Bank now owns 103 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $108,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares during the period. Magellan Asset Management Ltd raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 14.3% during the second quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 72 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares during the period. Finally, FAS Wealth Partners Inc. increased its stake in BlackRock by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 817 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $857,000 after buying an additional 9 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

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.