Centerpoint Advisory Group Acquires New Stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)

Centerpoint Advisory Group bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 869 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $822,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jmac Enterprises LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,070,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 19,171 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $18,145,000 after buying an additional 774 shares in the last quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. grew its stake in shares of BlackRock by 1.5% in the first quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. now owns 864 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $818,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Kennedy Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the first quarter worth $568,000. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC raised its stake in shares of BlackRock by 322.2% in the first quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 76 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BlackRock Price Performance

Shares of BLK opened at $974.60 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 4.34 and a quick ratio of 4.34. BlackRock has a 1-year low of $773.74 and a 1-year high of $1,084.22. The stock has a market cap of $150.99 billion, a PE ratio of 23.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.41. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $948.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $969.40.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $10.84 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $5.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.47 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.57% and a net margin of 30.09%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $9.81 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $852.01, for a total transaction of $1,704,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 66,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,261,628.34. This represents a 2.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Argus upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,028.00 to $1,090.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,035.00 to $1,105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,096.31.

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.