BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $5.21

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, November 19th. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th will be given a dividend of 5.21 per share by the asset manager on Tuesday, December 23rd. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th.

BlackRock has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.1%per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 16 years. BlackRock has a payout ratio of 41.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect BlackRock to earn $54.05 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $20.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 38.6%.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.5%

NYSE BLK traded down $4.61 on Wednesday, hitting $1,014.53. 838,517 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 714,034. The company has a current ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a market cap of $157.41 billion, a PE ratio of 26.09, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.48. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $1,124.02 and a 200-day moving average of $1,077.61. BlackRock has a 12 month low of $773.74 and a 12 month high of $1,219.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $11.78 by ($0.23). The company had revenue of $6.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.22 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 26.64% and a return on equity of 15.36%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $11.46 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on BLK shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,093.00 to $1,242.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Argus boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,165.00 to $1,330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,302.53.

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.