This huge market cap company has more than doubled in stock price
BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK -- $756.45) is a global investment management corporation and technology provider based in New York City. The company offers financial services for institutions, financial professionals, and individual investors. BlackRock has provided solutions for more than 30 years and is the world's largest asset manager. BlackRock operates globally with 70 offices in 30 countries and clients in over 100 countries.
BlackRock stock is set to report its fourth-quarter earnings before the bell on Thursday, Jan. 14. Looking back at BlackRock's earnings reports from 2020, BLK outperformed earnings expectations on all four reports released last year.
For the fourth quarter of 2019, BLK beat earnings expectations by a margin of $0.65. The company reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $8.34. For the first quarter of 2020, BLK reported a lower EPS of $6.60, but still beat analysts' earnings expectations by a decent margin of $0.24. BlackRock then reported an increase in earnings for the second quarter of 2020. The company reported an EPS of $7.85 and beat expectations by a wide margin of $0.86. Finally, in BlackRock's final earnings report of 2020, BLK reported earnings of $9.22 per share for the third quarter of 2020. The company also beat Wall Street's expectations by a large margin of $1.42. For its upcoming earnings report, BLK is expected to report an EPS of $8.70.
Regarding Blackrock stock performance, BLK has seen a slight gain of 5.6% since the start of this year. BLK stock price is up a notable 133% from its 52-week low of $323.98, and just this morning touched a fresh record peak of $765.46.
BlackRock also has a forward dividend of $14.52 and a forward dividend yield of 1.92%. BlackRock's last dividend was paid out to BLK shareholders at $3.63 per share. The company has paid a dividend to shareholders since 2003. BlackRock has grown more than $3 billion in annual revenue over the past three years and its current revenue stands at $15.7 billion.
Options traders, meanwhile, are optimistic. This is per BLK's 50-day call/put volume ratio of 1.54 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX). This ratio stands higher than 90% of readings from the past year, suggesting a much healthier-than-usual appetite for long calls of late.
Overall, BlackRock stock is a safe bet for investors looking to outperform the major markets on a reasonably consistent basis. BlackRock stock doesn’t yield the highest dividend returns or offer extraordinary growth potential, but BLK does offer relatively low volatility and a faster growth rate when compared to most other financial institutions.