BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.40 EPS

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) announced its earnings results on Monday. The asset manager reported $10.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.96 by $0.40, RTT News reports. BlackRock had a net margin of 32.36% and a return on equity of 15.53%. The firm had revenue of $4.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $9.28 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year.

BlackRock Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $843.94 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 5.32 and a quick ratio of 5.32. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $596.18 and a 1 year high of $845.53. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $789.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $793.14. The stock has a market cap of $125.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.45, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.32.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were issued a dividend of $5.10 per share. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 51.84%.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total transaction of $7,155,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,151,600. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $807.29, for a total value of $25,008,229.62. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 383,168 shares in the company, valued at approximately $309,327,694.72. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total transaction of $7,155,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,151,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Abacus Planning Group Inc. grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 334 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $271,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 48.1% during the 4th quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 40 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 226 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $177,000 after buying an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in BlackRock by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 450 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $365,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spreng Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in BlackRock by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Spreng Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,329 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,079,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on BLK. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,025.00 to $1,013.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of BlackRock from $924.00 to $912.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Argus upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $880.00 to $910.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $920.00 to $930.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Three research 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 stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $872.29.

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.