BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eleven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $1,019.62.

BLK has been the subject of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. TD Cowen upped their price target on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,105.00 to $1,133.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Friday. They set a “hold” rating for the company.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $1,022.80 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $158.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.30. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $742.22 and a 52-week high of $1,068.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a current ratio of 5.06. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $994.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $887.71.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.42 by $1.04. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.37% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The company had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $10.91 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 43.17 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.99%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is 50.35%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,983,583 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,681,472,000 after purchasing an additional 42,757 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,816,577 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,663,330,000 after buying an additional 30,182 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 10.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,363,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,244,608,000 after buying an additional 226,135 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,192,247 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,081,561,000 after acquiring an additional 40,865 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in BlackRock by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,665,044 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,310,762,000 after acquiring an additional 46,728 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.