BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Trading Down 0.3% – What’s Next?

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) traded down 0.3% on Friday . The stock traded as low as $972.50 and last traded at $977.12. 346,222 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 56% from the average session volume of 779,785 shares. The stock had previously closed at $980.30.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays cut their target price on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on BlackRock in a report on Sunday, February 9th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Citigroup boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.7 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $150.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $1,019.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $972.80.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $9.66 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,403,973.12. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $6,777,432. This represents a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,356,357,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 89,389.4% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,046,131 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $993,312,000 after purchasing an additional 1,044,962 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 104,468.9% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 792,632 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,526,120,000 after purchasing an additional 791,874 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 138,682.5% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 634,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $634,000 after purchasing an additional 633,779 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $572,730,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.