BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to Hold Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report published on Sunday.

BLK has been the subject of several other research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,305.00 to $1,298.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,093.00 to $1,242.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of BlackRock from $1,360.00 to $1,340.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 12th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,301.00 to $1,407.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,316.18.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of BLK stock opened at $1,088.78 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 3.33 and a current ratio of 3.33. The firm has a market cap of $168.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.47. BlackRock has a 52 week low of $773.74 and a 52 week high of $1,219.94. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $1,073.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $1,095.66.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $11.78 by ($0.23). BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.80% and a net margin of 26.64%.The company had revenue of $6.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $11.46 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th were given a dividend of $5.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 5th. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 53.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Martin Small sold 1,258 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,043.38, for a total value of $1,312,572.04. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 6,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,478,346.42. This represents a 16.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Rachel Lord sold 12,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Monday, October 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,165.04, for a total transaction of $13,980,480.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,394,113.20. This represents a 62.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 1.98% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of BlackRock

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pacifica Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 450.0% in the 3rd quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 22 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC raised its position in BlackRock by 1,000.0% in the 3rd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 22 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock by 100.0% in the first quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 200.0% during the second quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 27 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Traub Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackRock in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Company Profile

BlackRock, Inc is a global investment management firm that provides a broad range of products and services to institutional, intermediary and individual investors. Its core activities include portfolio management across active and index strategies, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) under the iShares brand, fixed income, equity and multi-asset solutions, as well as alternatives such as private equity, real estate and infrastructure. The firm also offers cash management and liquidity solutions and retirement-focused products designed for defined contribution and defined benefit investors.

In addition to traditional investment management, BlackRock is known for its technology and risk management capabilities, most prominently its Aladdin platform, which combines portfolio management, trading and risk analytics and is used both internally and licensed to external clients.