BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Short Interest Update

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,930,000 shares, a decrease of 9.8% from the November 15th total of 2,140,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 579,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.3 days. Currently, 1.4% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Sunday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,245.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,039.17.

BlackRock Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of BlackRock stock traded down $14.65 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $1,050.00. The stock had a trading volume of 989,936 shares, compared to its average volume of 589,828. The firm has a market cap of $162.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 5.06, a current ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $1,019.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $910.97. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $745.55 and a 12-month high of $1,082.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.42 by $1.04. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The company had revenue of $5.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.03 billion. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $10.91 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 43.18 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of $5.10 per share. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.35%.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,777,432. The trade was a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. This represents a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackRock

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS lifted its stake in BlackRock by 20.6% during the third quarter. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS now owns 603 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $573,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. grew its position in BlackRock by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. now owns 277 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $263,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the third quarter worth about $518,000. Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in BlackRock by 55.1% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 28,958 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $27,496,000 after buying an additional 10,284 shares during the period. Finally, Destination Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Destination Wealth Management now owns 1,140 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,082,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.