BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Price Target Raised to $1,224.00

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) had its price objective hoisted by Bank of America from $1,214.00 to $1,224.00 in a research report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the asset manager’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of BlackRock to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,151.21.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of BLK opened at $1,104.21 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $1,013.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $973.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 4.34 and a current ratio of 4.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $171.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.70, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.41. BlackRock has a one year low of $773.74 and a one year high of $1,119.19.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.41 by $1.64. BlackRock had a net margin of 29.68% and a return on equity of 15.83%. The firm had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.40 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $10.36 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th were given a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.89%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 50.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $912.50, for a total transaction of $9,125,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 66,034 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,256,025. This represents a 13.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackRock

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 23.1% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,575 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,615,000 after buying an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 35.4% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 619 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $634,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter valued at about $635,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of BlackRock by 16.3% during the 4th quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,592 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,657,000 after acquiring an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in BlackRock by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 7,603 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,813,000 after purchasing an additional 795 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is 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.