Harbor Investment Advisory LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in BlackRock $BLK

Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lowered its stake in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 0.6% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,243 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 46 shares during the period. BlackRock comprises about 0.6% of Harbor Investment Advisory LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $7,599,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 2.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,764,072 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $13,027,419,000 after buying an additional 387,466 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 104,598.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,500,083 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,312,759,000 after purchasing an additional 3,496,740 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 73.2% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,313,350 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,243,059,000 after purchasing an additional 555,098 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $1,142,340,000 after buying an additional 111,694 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BlackRock by 32.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,131,919 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,071,339,000 after buying an additional 279,336 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, Director Rachel Lord sold 18,036 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director directly owned 19,205 shares in the company, valued at $21,617,148. This represents a 48.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,122.81, for a total transaction of $4,978,539.54. Following the transaction, 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 quarter, insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573. 1.98% of the stock is owned by insiders.

BlackRock Price Performance

BLK opened at $1,124.34 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,115.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1,007.01. The firm has a market cap of $174.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.18, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.45. BlackRock has a twelve month low of $773.74 and a twelve month high of $1,171.89. The company has a current ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last released 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.40 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 29.68% and a return on equity of 15.53%. The business’s revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $10.36 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that BlackRock will post 47.41 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.39%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BLK. Wall Street Zen raised shares of BlackRock to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Argus reissued a “buy” rating on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of BlackRock from $1,018.00 to $1,093.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $1,115.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of BlackRock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.