BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Now Covered by Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in a report published on Tuesday morning. The firm issued a hold rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Barclays lifted their price objective on BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,124.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,077.08.

BlackRock Stock Up 2.7 %

BLK opened at $916.38 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $142.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a current ratio of 5.23. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $923.39 and its 200 day moving average is $983.77. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $748.02 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.84 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.47 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $9.81 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.27%. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was 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 approximately $73,403,973.12. This represents a 12.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 12,430 shares of company stock valued at $12,838,649 in the last ninety days. 1.98% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackRock

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 104,598.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,500,083 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,312,759,000 after purchasing an additional 3,496,740 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth about $2,356,357,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in BlackRock by 401.5% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,095,241 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,122,743,000 after purchasing an additional 876,836 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in BlackRock by 138,682.5% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth $572,730,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

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.