BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $5.10

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 24th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a dividend of 5.10 per share by the asset manager on Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th.

BlackRock has raised its dividend by an average of 11.3% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 15 consecutive years. BlackRock has a payout ratio of 44.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect BlackRock to earn $45.90 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $20.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 44.4%.

BlackRock Stock Down 1.1 %

BlackRock stock opened at $866.92 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $128.82 billion, a PE ratio of 22.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a current ratio of 5.06. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $596.18 and a fifty-two week high of $903.46. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $848.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $811.77.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $10.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.96 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $4.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.85 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.44% and a net margin of 32.36%. BlackRock’s revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $9.28 EPS. Research analysts expect that BlackRock will post 41.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total value of $10,800,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,832,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $900.00, for a total value of $10,800,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $5,832,000. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Pamela Daley sold 1,531 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $842.08, for a total transaction of $1,289,224.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,732 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,826,802.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 93,042 shares of company stock valued at $79,387,117. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BLK. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $915.00 to $934.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of BlackRock in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $985.00 target price on the stock. Argus raised their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $880.00 to $910.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $912.00 to $937.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on BlackRock from $920.00 to $930.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $883.13.

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.