BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Director Mark Wiedman Sells 36,190 Shares

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,777,432. The trade was a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.0 %

BLK opened at $1,049.16 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $1,019.85 and a 200 day moving average of $910.97. The company has a current ratio of 5.06, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $745.55 and a 12 month high of $1,082.45. The firm has a market cap of $162.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 11th. The asset manager reported $11.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.42 by $1.04. The firm had revenue of $5.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.03 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $10.91 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 43.18 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of $5.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.35%.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC grew its position in BlackRock by 25.9% in the 2nd quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 311 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $245,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 9.6% during the 2nd quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,422 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,119,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Lion Street Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the second quarter valued at approximately $239,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of BlackRock by 1.6% during the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,633 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $9,159,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 226 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $177,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on BLK shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on BlackRock from $864.00 to $914.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com started coverage on BlackRock in a research note on Sunday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,245.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,039.17.

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.