BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Director Sells $10,100,000.00 in Stock

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total value of $10,100,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $69,117,330. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BlackRock stock traded up $10.65 on Thursday, hitting $1,016.99. The stock had a trading volume of 645,089 shares, compared to its average volume of 799,756. The stock has a market cap of $157.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.28. The business’s 50 day moving average is $1,025.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $951.85. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. BlackRock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,082.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $9.66 earnings per share. BlackRock’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.43 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a dividend of $5.10 per share. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on BLK. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on BlackRock from $1,155.00 to $1,175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 89,389.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,046,131 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $993,312,000 after purchasing an additional 1,044,962 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 104,468.9% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 792,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,526,120,000 after buying an additional 791,874 shares in the last quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. acquired a new position in BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth about $343,976,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter worth about $330,662,000. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,244,608,000 after purchasing an additional 226,135 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.