Brokerages Set BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Price Target at $1,120.67

Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twelve brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com 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 target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $1,120.67.

BLK has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total value of $56,485,620.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the business’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 completion of 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. Insiders have sold 110,190 shares of company stock valued at $115,163,141 in the last ninety days. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $210,000. South Plains Financial Inc. acquired a new position in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,470,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in BlackRock by 7,147.0% during the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 16,813 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $17,235,000 after buying an additional 16,581 shares during the period. Keel Point LLC raised its stake in BlackRock by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 742 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $760,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its stake in BlackRock by 117.7% during the 4th quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 126,033 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $129,198,000 after buying an additional 68,131 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of BLK opened at $973.22 on Friday. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $745.55 and a 52-week high of $1,084.22. The business’s fifty day moving average is $1,020.68 and its 200-day moving average is $972.03. 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 has a market cap of $150.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.17, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.28.

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

BlackRock Increases Dividend

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