BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Research Coverage Started at Barclays

Barclays initiated coverage on shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in a report released on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage issued an overweight rating and a $985.00 price target on the asset manager’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on BLK. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $912.00 to $937.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Citigroup increased their price target on BlackRock from $920.00 to $930.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on BlackRock from $974.00 to $969.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Argus increased their target price on BlackRock from $880.00 to $910.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,025.00 to $1,013.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $881.47.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $895.59 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 5.32 and a current ratio of 5.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $133.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.74, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.32. BlackRock has a one year low of $596.18 and a one year high of $898.66. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $834.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $807.21.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $10.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.96 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $4.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.85 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.36% and a return on equity of 15.53%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $9.28 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 41.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.84%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Pamela Daley sold 1,531 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 5,732 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,826,802.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 29,450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $843.25, for a total transaction of $24,833,712.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 353,718 shares in the company, valued at approximately $298,272,703.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Pamela Daley sold 1,531 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,732 shares in the company, valued at $4,826,802.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 81,042 shares of company stock worth $68,587,117 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. SRN Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 45.1% during the 2nd quarter. SRN Advisors LLC now owns 2,155 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,697,000 after acquiring an additional 670 shares in the last quarter. Farmers National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.3% during the second quarter. Farmers National Bank now owns 7,605 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,988,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,089 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,432,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. New Century Financial Group LLC increased its stake in BlackRock by 245.2% in the 2nd quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC now owns 901 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $709,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Founders Financial Alliance LLC raised its holdings in BlackRock by 23.1% during the 2nd quarter. Founders Financial Alliance LLC now owns 474 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $373,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.