BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Announces Earnings Results

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) announced its earnings results on Wednesday. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41, RTT News reports. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.37% and a return on equity of 15.52%.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.8 %

BlackRock stock opened at $962.75 on Wednesday. BlackRock has a one year low of $745.55 and a one year high of $1,082.45. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $1,029.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $943.81. The company has a market capitalization of $149.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.76, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.06 and a quick ratio of 5.06.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were paid a $5.10 dividend. This represents a $20.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 50.35%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. TD Cowen raised their target price on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,077.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com began coverage on BlackRock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,245.00 to $1,261.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,155.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,088.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total value of $56,485,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total transaction of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $6,777,432. The trade was a 84.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.