The Goldman Sachs Group Issues Positive Forecast for BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Stock Price

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) had its price objective hoisted by The Goldman Sachs Group from $1,163.00 to $1,312.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning,MarketScreener reports. They currently have a buy rating on the asset manager’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on BLK. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Argus restated a “buy” rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,180.00 to $1,170.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $980.00 price target on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,213.67.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.0%

NYSE BLK opened at $1,160.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 4.04 and a quick ratio of 4.04. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $1,129.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1,027.68. BlackRock has a 12 month low of $773.74 and a 12 month high of $1,183.50. The company has a market capitalization of $179.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.06, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.41 by $1.64. BlackRock had a net margin of 29.68% and a return on equity of 15.53%. The business had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $10.36 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.39%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,125.43, for a total transaction of $13,565,933.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 251,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $283,267,354.71. This represents a 4.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,122.81, for a total transaction of $4,978,539.54. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,936,571.86. This represents a 55.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573 in the last quarter. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Fairway Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 76.5% in the 1st quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the period. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 100.0% in the 1st quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Garde Capital Inc. boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 200.0% in the 2nd quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 27 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Traub Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Cheviot Value Management LLC bought a new stake in BlackRock in the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. 80.69% of the stock is 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.