Bangor Savings Bank Raises Stock Holdings in BlackRock $BLK

Bangor Savings Bank grew its stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,633 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the quarter. Bangor Savings Bank’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,714,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of BlackRock by 2.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,764,072 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $13,027,419,000 after acquiring an additional 387,466 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in BlackRock by 104,598.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,500,083 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,312,759,000 after buying an additional 3,496,740 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in BlackRock by 73.2% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,313,350 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,243,059,000 after buying an additional 555,098 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in BlackRock by 10.2% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,206,935 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,142,340,000 after buying an additional 111,694 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in BlackRock by 32.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,131,919 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,071,339,000 after buying an additional 279,336 shares during the period. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,120.50, for a total transaction of $19,207,611.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 61,369 shares in the company, valued at $68,763,964.50. This trade represents a 21.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 12,054 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,125.43, for a total value of $13,565,933.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 251,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $283,267,354.71. This trade represents a 4.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,494 shares of company stock worth $74,694,573 in the last ninety days. 1.98% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK stock opened at $1,124.34 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a current ratio of 4.04. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $773.74 and a 1 year high of $1,171.89. The firm has a market cap of $174.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.45. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,115.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1,007.38.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.41 by $1.64. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.53% and a net margin of 29.68%.The business had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $10.36 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BLK has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Zacks Research downgraded BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Bank of America increased their target price on BlackRock from $1,214.00 to $1,224.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,018.00 to $1,093.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $1,115.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,154.07.

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.