BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Now Covered by Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in a research report released on Sunday morning. The firm issued a hold rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on BLK. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,105.00 to $1,133.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. TD Cowen upped their target price on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,039.17.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $1,050.00 on Friday. BlackRock has a one year low of $745.55 and a one year high of $1,082.45. The company has a 50-day moving average of $1,019.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $910.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.06 and a quick ratio of 5.06. The stock has a market cap of $162.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.91, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.28.

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

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 50.35%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BLK. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter valued at $26,000. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 81.5% during the 3rd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 49 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. 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.