Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Reaffirms Outperform Rating for BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued their outperform rating on shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in a research note released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $915.00 price target on the asset manager’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on BLK. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,013.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. UBS Group raised their price objective on BlackRock from $818.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on BlackRock from $742.00 to $767.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $844.17.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK stock opened at $789.12 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $117.26 billion, a PE ratio of 20.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.32. BlackRock has a 12 month low of $596.18 and a 12 month high of $845.00. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $780.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $792.72. The company has a current ratio of 5.32, a quick ratio of 5.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The asset manager reported $9.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.42 by $0.39. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.24% and a net margin of 32.26%. The firm had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.65 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $7.93 EPS. BlackRock’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 41.25 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total value of $7,155,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,151,600. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 30,978 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 20th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $309,327,694.72. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $795.00, for a total value 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 $5,151,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackRock

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Finally, LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA boosted its position in shares of BlackRock by 208.3% during the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 37 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.