First Bancorp Inc ME Sells 35 Shares of BlackRock $BLK

First Bancorp Inc ME cut its holdings in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 9.9% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 317 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 35 shares during the quarter. First Bancorp Inc ME’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $333,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Securian Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BlackRock in the 1st quarter worth $7,331,000. Prudent Man Advisors LLC bought a new position in BlackRock during the first quarter valued at approximately $2,018,000. Allianz SE grew its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 2.6% in the first quarter. Allianz SE now owns 11,025 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,435,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System bought a new stake in BlackRock in the first quarter valued at $40,868,000. Finally, Community Financial Services Group LLC lifted its position in BlackRock by 17.2% during the first quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 5,702 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,397,000 after buying an additional 836 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $1,320.00 price target on BlackRock and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,093.00 to $1,242.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Bank of America boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,394.00 to $1,456.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on BlackRock from $1,310.00 to $1,360.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,300.81.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BlackRock stock opened at $1,161.63 on Friday. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $773.74 and a fifty-two week high of $1,219.94. The company has a market capitalization of $179.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.87, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $1,140.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $1,042.82. 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 (NYSE:BLK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 14th. The asset manager reported $11.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $11.78 by ($0.23). BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.36% and a net margin of 26.64%.The firm had revenue of $6.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $11.46 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were given a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is currently 53.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the company’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 value of $19,207,611.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 61,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,763,964.50. This represents a 21.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the 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 value of $4,978,539.54. Following the sale, the director owned 3,506 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BlackRock Company 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.