BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $5.21

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 23rd, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a dividend of 5.21 per share by the asset manager on Tuesday, September 23rd. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th.

BlackRock has a payout ratio of 41.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect BlackRock to earn $54.05 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $20.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 38.6%.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.5%

BlackRock stock traded up $5.11 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $1,123.48. 516,296 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 658,464. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $773.74 and a 1 year high of $1,130.66. The firm has a market cap of $174.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 4.34 and a quick ratio of 4.34. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $1,027.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $976.73.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.41 by $1.64. The firm had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.40 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 29.68% and a return on equity of 15.83%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $10.36 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLK has been the subject of several research reports. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $959.00 to $1,210.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,180.00 to $1,170.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of BlackRock to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,151.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,122.81, for a total value of $4,978,539.54. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,506 shares in the company, valued at $3,936,571.86. The trade was a 55.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The stock was 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 owned 251,697 shares in the company, valued at $283,267,354.71. The trade was a 4.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 49,352 shares of company stock worth $55,486,962. 1.98% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in BlackRock stock. Bison Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,052 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the quarter. Bison Wealth LLC's holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,078,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.