Market Update: BlackRock Inc (NYSE:BLK) – BlackRock switches benchmarks on U.S. bond ETFs

[Reuters] – BlackRock Inc said on Friday it will change the benchmarks on four iShares Treasury exchange-traded funds from Barclays’ Treasury bond indexes to ICE’s Treasury bond indexes, effective on or after March … Read more on this. BlackRock, Inc. (BLK) , with a current market cap of $51.76B, began trading this morning at $303.37. During today’s session, BLK traded between $301.90 to $312.98 with a trailing 52-week range being $275.00 to $382.84. BLK shares are currently priced at 15.35x this year’s forecasted earnings, which makes them relatively expensive compared to the industry ’s 9.91x earnings multiple for the same period. And for passive income investors, the company pays shareholders $9.16 per share annually in dividends, yielding 3.06%. In a review of the consensus earnings estimate this quarter, 18 sell-side analysts are looking at $4.40 per share, which would be $0.49 worse than the year-ago quarter and a $0.31 sequential decrease. The full-year EPS estimate is $19.49, which would be a $0.11 better than last year. The quarterly earnings estimate is predicated on a consensus revenue forecast of $2.76 Billion. If reported, that would be a 1.47% increase over the year-ago quarter. In terms of ratings, Gabelli & Co upgraded BLK from Hold to Buy (Sep 16, 2015). Previously, Credit Suisse upgraded BLK from Neutral to Outperform. The average price target for BLK shares by the analysts covering the stock is $349.41, which is 15.18% above where the stock opened this morning. See more in (NYSE:BLK) Similar Articles: Company Update (NYSE:BLK): BlackRock Announces Primary Listing Venue Changes for 11 iShares ETFs Market Update: BlackRock Inc (NYSE:BLK) – BlackRock broad-market iShares ETF becoming cheaper than Vanguard’s Stock Update: BlackRock Inc (NYSE:BLK) – BlackRock to buy Bank of America’s $87 billion money-market fund business