BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Given New $950.00 Price Target at Barclays

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) had its price objective reduced by Barclays from $1,210.00 to $950.00 in a research report report published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the asset manager's stock.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on BLK. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Sunday, April 6th. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Bank of America lowered their price objective on BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,096.92.

BlackRock Trading Up 2.7 %

BLK traded up $22.87 on Monday, reaching $881.65. 599,397 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 686,428. The company has a market cap of $136.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $944.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $988.37. BlackRock has a one year low of $745.55 and a one year high of $1,084.22. 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 - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.84 by $0.46. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The firm had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $9.81 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $5.21 dividend. This is a boost from BlackRock's previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. BlackRock's payout ratio is currently 49.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total value of $408,229.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,720 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,531,656.40. This trade represents a 10.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 20,430 shares of company stock valued at $21,234,629. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BLK. IAG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Investment Management Corp VA ADV acquired a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Collier Financial purchased a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.