BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,870,000 shares, a growth of 10.0% from the May 15th total of 1,700,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 620,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.0 days. Currently, 1.3% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $807.29, for a total transaction of $25,008,229.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 383,168 shares in the company, valued at $309,327,694.72. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $807.29, for a total transaction of $25,008,229.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 383,168 shares in the company, valued at $309,327,694.72. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total transaction of $7,155,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,151,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackRock

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BLK. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter worth $1,812,920,000. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 57.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,514,999 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,853,517,000 after purchasing an additional 1,279,952 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 23.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,918,878 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,181,346,000 after purchasing an additional 749,654 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 77,524.5% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 24,171.5% in the first quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC now owns 416,014 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $346,831,000 after acquiring an additional 414,300 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $784.12 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 5.32, a current ratio of 5.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. BlackRock has a 52 week low of $596.18 and a 52 week high of $845.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $775.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $791.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $116.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.34.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.42 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.24%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $7.93 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 41.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.60%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 51.84%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on BLK. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $930.00 target price (up previously from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Friday, April 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $845.42.

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.