BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Stock Price Up 0.4%

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) was up 0.4% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $787.77 and last traded at $785.74. Approximately 168,535 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 72% from the average daily volume of 603,307 shares. The stock had previously closed at $782.83.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price target on BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $930.00 price target (up from $918.00) on shares of BlackRock in a report on Friday, April 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective 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 BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report 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, BlackRock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $845.42.

BlackRock Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $775.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $791.47. The firm has a market cap of $117.04 billion, a PE ratio of 20.02, a price-to-earnings-growth 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.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.42 by $0.39. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.26% and a return on equity of 15.24%. The company had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $7.93 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $5,151,600. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $807.29, for a total value of $25,008,229.62. Following 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 this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total value of $7,155,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,151,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackRock

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of BLK. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its position in BlackRock by 4.3% in the first quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 342 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $285,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. SRN Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,238,000. Objective Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in BlackRock by 35.4% in the 1st quarter. Objective Capital Management LLC now owns 570 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $475,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its position in BlackRock by 14.3% in the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 266,379 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $221,619,000 after purchasing an additional 33,338 shares during the period. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the first quarter worth $974,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.