BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Raises Dividend to $5.21 Per Share

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 29th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of 5.21 per share by the asset manager on Monday, March 24th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10.

BlackRock has raised its dividend payment by an average of 7.3% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 15 consecutive years. BlackRock has a dividend payout ratio of 38.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect BlackRock to earn $53.98 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $20.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 37.8%.

BlackRock Price Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $1,053.50 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $163.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,024.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $958.99. BlackRock has a 12-month low of $745.55 and a 12-month high of $1,082.45. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $9.66 EPS. Equities analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,040.00 to $1,160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,120.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $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 SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total transaction of $56,485,620.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. This trade represents a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 100,190 shares of company stock worth $104,436,741. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.