J. Richard Kushel Sells 430 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Stock

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total transaction of $408,229.10. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,531,656.40. This represents a 10.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

J. Richard Kushel also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, January 30th, J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total value of $10,726,400.00.
• On Tuesday, January 21st, J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total value of $10,100,000.00.

BlackRock Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of BLK stock opened at $967.48 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $998.43 and a 200-day moving average of $983.77. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market cap of $149.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.04, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $745.55 and a 1-year high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $9.66 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.15%. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 49.62%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Wednesday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in BlackRock by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,376,606 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,712,493,000 after purchasing an additional 68,405 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,983,583 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,681,472,000 after buying an additional 42,757 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,097,524 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,200,450,000 after buying an additional 93,844 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,006,765 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,072,787,000 after acquiring an additional 190,188 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,390,450 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,450,475,000 after acquiring an additional 26,485 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is 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.