BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Trading 0.5% Higher

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) traded up 0.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $830.93 and last traded at $824.53. 79,779 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 594,293 shares. The stock had previously closed at $820.20.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. 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 note on Friday, December 15th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of BlackRock from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $885.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 12th. TD Cowen raised shares of BlackRock from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $819.00 to $938.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $719.00 to $793.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 30th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $720.00 to $818.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $785.73.

BlackRock Price Performance

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 business’s fifty day moving average is $805.17 and its 200 day moving average is $742.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $124.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.37.

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

BlackRock Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $809.92, for a total value of $25,089,701.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 414,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $335,425,128.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, 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 transaction of $29,498,425.54. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 17,004 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,910,292.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 414,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $335,425,128.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 100,511 shares of company stock valued at $71,864,028. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackRock

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 1,279,952 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 23.7% in 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 acquiring an additional 749,654 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 104,159.9% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 697,499 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $494,269,000 after acquiring an additional 696,830 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 77,524.5% in the 4th 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 during the period. 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.