Centaurus Financial Inc. Purchases Shares of 1,145 BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Centaurus Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,145 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $1,174,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLK. IAG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Investment Management Corp VA ADV acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Collier Financial acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on BLK shares. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,196.00 to $1,178.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,124.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,045.00 to $1,010.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,065.00 to $1,035.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, BlackRock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,077.08.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK stock opened at $975.76 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 5.23, a current ratio of 5.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $752.30 and a 12 month high of $1,084.22. The firm has a market cap of $151.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.41. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $922.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $975.86.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.84 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $5.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.47 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 31.21% and a return on equity of 16.32%. The firm’s revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $9.81 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.63%.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $912.50, for a total transaction of $9,125,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 66,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,256,025. The trade was a 13.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

BlackRock 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.