BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Receives $1,120.67 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twelve ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $1,120.67.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on BLK shares. UBS Group upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Evercore ISI upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on BlackRock in a report on Sunday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Citigroup upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,845,393.48. This trade represents a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total value of $10,726,400.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $73,403,973.12. This trade represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackRock

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 257 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $263,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Pitcairn Co. purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $2,158,000. Grant Private Wealth Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $820,000. World Investment Advisors boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 50.4% during the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 3,616 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,706,000 after buying an additional 1,211 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Disciplined Investors L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the fourth quarter valued at $201,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $973.54 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $745.55 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $1,023.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $971.96. The company has a market capitalization of $150.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.18, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $9.66 earnings per share. Analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.44 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $5.21 dividend. This is a boost from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.57%.

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.