Brokerages Set BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Target Price at $932.71

Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eleven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $972.23.

BLK has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays increased their price target on BlackRock from $990.00 to $1,010.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. UBS Group lowered their target price on BlackRock from $842.00 to $837.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Citigroup boosted their target price on BlackRock from $920.00 to $930.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $774.00 to $864.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $5,832,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 29,450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $298,272,703.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total value of $10,800,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,832,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 93,042 shares of company stock valued at $79,387,117 over the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackRock

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the second quarter worth about $31,000. Lam Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the first quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Fairman Group LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BLK stock opened at $955.57 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $142.00 billion, a PE ratio of 24.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.30. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $596.18 and a fifty-two week high of $963.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.06 and a quick ratio of 5.06. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $894.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $829.20.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $10.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.96 by $0.40. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.44% and a net margin of 32.36%. The firm had revenue of $4.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $9.28 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 41.37 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th were given a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 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.