Insider Selling: BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Director Sells 10,000 Shares of Stock

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $912.50, for a total value of $9,125,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 66,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,256,025. This represents a 13.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

J. Richard Kushel also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, April 21st, J. Richard Kushel sold 2,000 shares of BlackRock stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $852.01, for a total value of $1,704,020.00.
• On Friday, February 28th, J. Richard Kushel sold 430 shares of BlackRock stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $949.37, for a total value of $408,229.10.
• On Thursday, January 30th, J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,072.64, for a total value of $10,726,400.00.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $914.87 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $142.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.78, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.38. BlackRock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $748.78 and a 1-year high of $1,084.22. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $920.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $983.34. The company has a current ratio of 5.23, a quick ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.84 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $5.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.47 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $9.81 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $5.21 dividend. This is an increase from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 50.63%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackRock

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BLK. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter valued at $66,000. Invst LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 2.2% in the third quarter. Invst LLC now owns 2,435 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,312,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Wealthquest Corp acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter valued at about $225,000. Tudor Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the third quarter valued at about $399,000. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 31.8% in the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 791 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $751,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on BLK shares. Barclays boosted their target price on BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Bank of America reduced their price objective on BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,124.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,077.08.

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.