BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $5.21

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 29th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of 5.21 per share by the asset manager on Monday, March 24th. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. This is a positive change from BlackRock’s previous quarterly dividend of $5.10.

BlackRock has raised its dividend payment by an average of 7.3% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 15 years. BlackRock has a dividend payout ratio of 38.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect BlackRock to earn $53.98 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 37.8%.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.2 %

BLK stock traded up $2.30 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $1,053.50. The company had a trading volume of 759,493 shares, compared to its average volume of 801,840. 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 has a 52 week low of $745.55 and a 52 week high of $1,082.45. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $1,024.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $958.99. The stock has a market cap of $163.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.08, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 31.21%. The firm had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $9.66 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on BLK. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. StockNews.com began coverage on BlackRock in a report on Friday, January 24th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Citigroup upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,150.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,215.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,120.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,010.00, for a total transaction of $10,100,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 68,433 shares in the company, valued at $69,117,330. The trade was a 12.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,046.03, for a total value of $56,485,620.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,845,393.48. This trade represents a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 100,190 shares of company stock valued at $104,436,741. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.