Old North State Trust LLC Buys New Shares in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Old North State Trust LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 13,075 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $1,539,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Strive Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Ares Financial Consulting LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth about $34,000. Palladiem LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Entrust Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on BX. Weiss Ratings raised Blackstone from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $119.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Rothschild & Co Redburn dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Dbs Bank raised shares of Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Blackstone from $140.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $149.43.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.3%

NYSE BX opened at $143.62 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $101.73 and a fifty-two week high of $190.09. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $130.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $122.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $107.80 billion, a PE ratio of 32.13, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $5.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.42 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 23.77% and a net margin of 21.84%.Blackstone’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd were given a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 115.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone purchased 765,111 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $26.14 per share, with a total value of $20,000,001.54. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 7,882,145 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $206,039,270.30. This trade represents a 10.75% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.55, for a total transaction of $4,066,500.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 869,669 shares in the company, valued at approximately $117,883,632.95. This represents a 3.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 1,611,822 shares of company stock worth $42,189,294 and have sold 7,562,000 shares worth $40,331,085. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Profile

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.