BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) in a report published on Thursday. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the asset manager's stock.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on BlackRock from $1,000.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,245.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,019.62.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of BLK traded up $7.63 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $1,032.30. The company had a trading volume of 290,413 shares, compared to its average volume of 574,785. The stock has a market cap of $159.88 billion, a PE ratio of 25.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 5.06, a current ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $978.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $876.59. BlackRock has a 1-year low of $724.54 and a 1-year high of $1,068.34.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.42 by $1.04. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.37% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $10.91 earnings per share. BlackRock's revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 43.17 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.98%. BlackRock's payout ratio is currently 50.35%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total value of $10,800,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,832,000. This trade represents a 64.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in BlackRock by 219.5% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 44,065 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $36,737,000 after buying an additional 30,274 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 20.4% in the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,338 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $3,169,000 after acquiring an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 62.8% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,291 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,804,000 after purchasing an additional 884 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 20.8% during the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 21,333 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $20,256,000 after purchasing an additional 3,675 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in BlackRock by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 13,862 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $13,162,000 after purchasing an additional 870 shares in 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.