Argus Issues Positive Forecast for BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Stock Price

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) had its price objective hoisted by Argus from $1,165.00 to $1,330.00 in a report published on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a buy rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on BLK. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on BlackRock in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $1,280.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,394.00 to $1,456.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Zacks Research lowered BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,252.00 to $1,301.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,300.81.

BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE:BLK opened at $1,201.37 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,138.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1,039.23. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $773.74 and a 52-week high of $1,219.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a current ratio of 4.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $186.03 billion, a PE ratio of 30.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $11.78 by ($0.23). BlackRock had a net margin of 26.64% and a return on equity of 15.36%. The company had revenue of $6.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $11.46 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were given a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 50.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,120.50, for a total value of $19,207,611.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 61,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,763,964.50. This represents a 21.83% 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. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,125.43, for a total value of $13,565,933.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 251,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $283,267,354.71. This represents a 4.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in BlackRock by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,991,264 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $14,680,334,000 after purchasing an additional 227,192 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,143,429 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,281,641,000 after purchasing an additional 34,049 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the second quarter worth approximately $2,644,007,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 72.5% in the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,005,358 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,104,122,000 after purchasing an additional 842,901 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 105,267.4% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,705,899 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,789,915,000 after purchasing an additional 1,704,280 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

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.