BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Shares Down 0.3%

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)’s share price fell 0.3% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $777.78 and last traded at $781.41. 75,344 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 603,420 shares. The stock had previously closed at $783.65.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target 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. UBS Group upped 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. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $930.00 price objective (up previously from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $845.42.

BlackRock Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $117.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.03, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 5.32 and a quick ratio of 5.32. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $775.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $791.21.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.42 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.65 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.24% and a net margin of 32.26%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $7.93 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.25 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a dividend of $5.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.59%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.84%.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackRock

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Paralel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.2% in the third quarter. Paralel Advisors LLC now owns 2,859 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,848,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 127,902 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $82,687,000 after acquiring an additional 9,095 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in BlackRock by 27.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,573 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,017,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC lifted its position in BlackRock by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 848 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $548,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 11,172 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,223,000 after purchasing an additional 675 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is 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.