Brokerages Set BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) PT at $1,300.81

Shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, sixteen have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $1,300.8125.

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Argus upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,165.00 to $1,330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. BNP Paribas Exane upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,160.00 to $1,265.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Bank of America upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,394.00 to $1,456.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,310.00 to $1,360.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $1,161.63 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,140.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1,042.82. The company has a current ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $179.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.87, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.45. BlackRock has a one year low of $773.74 and a one year high of $1,219.94.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.78 by ($0.23). The firm had revenue of $6.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.22 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 26.64% and a return on equity of 15.36%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $11.46 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were given a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is 53.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,122.81, for a total value of $4,978,539.54. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,506 shares in the company, valued at $3,936,571.86. This represents a 55.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 18,036 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,125.60, for a total value of $20,301,321.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 19,205 shares in the company, valued at $21,617,148. This trade represents a 48.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Oak Harvest Investment Services grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.8% during the third quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services now owns 12,994 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $15,149,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 6.9% during the third quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 648 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $755,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Chemung Canal Trust Co. grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 297.1% during the third quarter. Chemung Canal Trust Co. now owns 2,200 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,565,000 after purchasing an additional 1,646 shares during the last quarter. Petros Family Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 3.3% during the third quarter. Petros Family Wealth LLC now owns 1,859 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,167,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HM Payson & Co. grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.6% during the third quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 1,444 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,683,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares during the last quarter. 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.