BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Reaches New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. BlackRock traded as high as $962.95 and last traded at $953.70, with a volume of 240322 shares. The stock had previously closed at $949.07.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $920.00 to $930.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $912.00 to $937.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on BlackRock from $915.00 to $934.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on BlackRock from $974.00 to $969.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on BlackRock from $945.00 to $995.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $948.93.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Pamela Daley sold 1,531 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $842.08, for a total transaction of $1,289,224.48. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,732 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,826,802.56. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,832,000. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Pamela Daley sold 1,531 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $842.08, for a total transaction of $1,289,224.48. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,732 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,826,802.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 93,042 shares of company stock worth $79,387,117 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackRock

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. XML Financial LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 15.4% during the 4th quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 411 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $333,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Greystone Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $231,000. Ethic Inc. increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 7,044 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,719,000 after buying an additional 492 shares during the period. First Financial Bankshares Inc bought a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $52,136,000. Finally, RMB Capital Management LLC boosted its position in BlackRock by 16.3% during the 4th quarter. RMB Capital Management LLC now owns 11,762 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $9,549,000 after buying an additional 1,649 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.5 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a current ratio of 5.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $141.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.30. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $893.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $828.30.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $10.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.96 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $4.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.85 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.44% and a net margin of 32.36%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $9.28 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were paid a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 51.84%.

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.