Centaurus Financial Inc. Sells 322 Shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK)

Centaurus Financial Inc. decreased its position in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) by 23.3% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,058 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 322 shares during the period. Centaurus Financial Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $833,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. XML Financial LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 473 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $372,000 after buying an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 226 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $177,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $822,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the period. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its position in BlackRock by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 311 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $243,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the period. Finally, Tortoise Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 17.1% in the 2nd quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 89 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 27,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $834.42, for a total transaction of $22,529,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,407,041.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 27,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $834.42, for a total transaction of $22,529,340.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,407,041.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 29,450 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $843.25, for a total value of $24,833,712.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,718 shares in the company, valued at $298,272,703.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 93,042 shares of company stock worth $79,387,117. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLK has been the topic of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $915.00 to $934.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on BlackRock from $774.00 to $864.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup upped their price objective on BlackRock from $920.00 to $930.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. UBS Group cut their target price on BlackRock from $842.00 to $837.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Argus increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $880.00 to $910.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $932.71.

BlackRock Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of BlackRock stock opened at $949.19 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $890.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $826.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $141.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.12, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.30. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $596.18 and a 12-month high of $960.74. 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 issued its earnings results on Monday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $10.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.96 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $4.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.85 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.44% and a net margin of 32.36%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $9.28 EPS. Analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 41.37 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th were given a $5.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $20.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.15%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.84%.

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.