Kera Capital Partners Inc. Buys 180 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

Kera Capital Partners Inc. boosted its stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 4.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,614 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc.’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $4,841,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Detalus Advisors LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Detalus Advisors LLC now owns 409 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $387,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 20.4% during the 1st quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 65 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC grew its holdings in BlackRock by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 579 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $548,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. grew its holdings in BlackRock by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 451 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crumly & Associates Inc. lifted its position in BlackRock by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. now owns 864 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $818,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

BlackRock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BLK opened at $1,124.34 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $174.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.45. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $1,115.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1,007.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 4.04 and a quick ratio of 4.04. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $773.74 and a fifty-two week high of $1,171.89.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.41 by $1.64. The business had revenue of $5.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.40 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 29.68% and a return on equity of 15.53%. BlackRock’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $10.36 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be given a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on BLK. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $959.00 to $1,210.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $990.00 to $1,220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,214.00 to $1,224.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,154.07.

Insider Activity

In other BlackRock news, Director Rachel Lord sold 18,036 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,125.60, for a total transaction of $20,301,321.60. Following the sale, the director directly owned 19,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,617,148. This trade represents a 48.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,122.81, for a total transaction of $4,978,539.54. Following the sale, the director owned 3,506 shares in the company, valued at $3,936,571.86. This trade represents a 55.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573. Insiders own 1.98% of the company’s stock.

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.