BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• BlackRock has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from 14 research firms, with 12 analysts rating it a buy and two rating it hold.
• The company's average price target over the next 12 months is $1,151.21, reflecting confidence in its stock performance.
• BlackRock recently reported earnings of $12.05 per share, exceeding estimates and marking a 12.9% increase in revenue compared to the same period last year.

Shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" by the fourteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $1,151.21.

Several research firms have recently commented on BLK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,018.00 to $1,093.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on BlackRock from $1,251.00 to $1,032.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on BlackRock from $1,180.00 to $1,170.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Argus reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on BlackRock from $990.00 to $1,220.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 251,697 shares of the company's stock, valued at $283,267,354.71. This trade represents a 4.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 approximately $3,936,571.86. The trade was a 55.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573 in the last ninety days. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in BlackRock by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,764,072 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $13,027,419,000 after buying an additional 387,466 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in BlackRock by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,097,524 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $4,200,450,000 after buying an additional 93,844 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 104,598.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,500,083 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $3,312,759,000 after buying an additional 3,496,740 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in BlackRock by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,390,450 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,450,475,000 after buying an additional 26,485 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in BlackRock by 18.6% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,100,163 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,152,907,000 after buying an additional 329,244 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company's stock.

BlackRock Price Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $1,091.29 on Friday. BlackRock has a 12 month low of $773.74 and a 12 month high of $1,130.66. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,040.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $981.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $169.07 billion, a PE ratio of 26.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.42.

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

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.39%.

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.

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