BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Shares Up 0.6%

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) traded up 0.6% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $823.88 and last traded at $821.19. 58,752 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 90% from the average session volume of 597,808 shares. The stock had previously closed at $816.21.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

BlackRock Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $124.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.37. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $804.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $742.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.48 and a quick ratio of 3.48.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 12th. The asset manager reported $9.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.84 by $0.82. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 30.81%. The company had revenue of $4.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $8.93 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $5.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 6th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.44%. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.00. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 18,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.54, for a total value of $5,085,660.60. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 11,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,366,142.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other BlackRock news, General Counsel Christopher J. Meade sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.54, for a total transaction of $5,085,660.60. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 11,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,366,142.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Marc D. Comerchero sold 450 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $785.11, for a total transaction of $353,299.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,975 shares in the company, valued at $4,691,032.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 100,511 shares of company stock worth $71,864,028. Insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 208.3% in the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 37 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, West Tower Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. 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.