BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) Short Interest Update

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,360,000 shares, a decline of 13.9% from the December 15th total of 1,580,000 shares. Approximately 1.0% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 662,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.1 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, COO Robert L. Goldstein sold 54,000 shares of BlackRock 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 41,916 shares in the company, valued at $43,845,393.48. The trade was a 56.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Wiedman sold 36,190 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,045.90, for a total value of $37,851,121.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at $6,777,432. This represents a 84.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Red Door Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 24.0% in the 4th quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC now owns 491 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $503,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Galvin Gaustad & Stein LLC purchased a new position in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,124,000. Trust Co. of Oklahoma grew its stake in BlackRock by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Trust Co. of Oklahoma now owns 2,037 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,088,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $279,000. Finally, Traynor Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in BlackRock by 34.3% during the 4th quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc. now owns 431 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $441,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Up 0.9 %

BLK traded up $8.51 on Friday, hitting $1,004.23. 1,079,196 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 610,586. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $1,027.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $947.28. The company has a market cap of $155.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.28. BlackRock has a twelve month low of $745.55 and a twelve month high of $1,082.45. The company has a current ratio of 5.06, a quick ratio of 5.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The asset manager reported $11.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.52 by $0.41. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.52% and a net margin of 31.37%. The business had revenue of $5.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $9.66 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that BlackRock will post 43.02 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.03%. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 50.35%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,261.00 to $1,275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on BlackRock from $1,225.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $960.00 to $1,040.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $914.00 to $971.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,103.33.

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.