BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $1,019.62.

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on BLK shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,105.00 to $1,133.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total value of $10,800,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,832,000. This trade represents a 64.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackRock

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 9.5% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 938 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $781,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC raised its position in BlackRock by 51.7% during the first quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 578 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $482,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 405.1% in the 1st quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 2,652 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,210,000 after purchasing an additional 2,127 shares during the period. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. now owns 640 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $534,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC lifted its position in BlackRock by 0.5% in the first quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 27,140 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $22,626,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of BLK opened at $1,036.46 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a current ratio of 5.06. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $724.54 and a 52-week high of $1,068.34. The firm has a market cap of $160.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.58, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.30. The business’s fifty day moving average is $984.28 and its 200-day moving average is $880.90.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.42 by $1.04. The business had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $10.91 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 43.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a dividend of $5.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.97%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 50.35%.

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.