BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Director J. Richard Kushel Sells 430 Shares

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total transaction of $408,229.10. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,531,656.40. The trade was a 10.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

J. Richard Kushel also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, January 30th, J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total transaction of $10,726,400.00.
• On Tuesday, January 21st, J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total transaction of $10,100,000.00.

BlackRock Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of BLK stock opened at $951.24 on Wednesday. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $745.55 and a 12 month high of $1,084.22. The firm has a market cap of $147.33 billion, a PE ratio of 22.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $1,000.17 and a 200-day moving average of $983.89. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $9.66 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.19%. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BLK has been the topic of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,017.00 to $1,045.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays reduced their target price on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,120.67.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of BLK. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 39.0% in the third quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 709 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $701,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 64.3% in the third quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 115 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $109,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 0.4% in the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,979 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,829,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 9.1% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 34,015 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $33,612,000 after purchasing an additional 2,836 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BSW Wealth Partners acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter valued at $207,000. 80.69% of the stock is currently 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.