OLD Second National Bank of Aurora Acquires 523 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

OLD Second National Bank of Aurora increased its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 35,788 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 523 shares during the period. Blackstone accounts for 1.3% of OLD Second National Bank of Aurora’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $4,685,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Blackstone by 30.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,091,903 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,652,526,000 after purchasing an additional 14,396,655 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 22,495,670 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,668,954,000 after buying an additional 798,734 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,157,334 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,419,249,000 after purchasing an additional 332,962 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Blackstone by 13.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,825,769 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,588,433,000 after acquiring an additional 1,744,652 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 7.1% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,925,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $695,952,000 after acquiring an additional 522,561 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE BX traded down $2.86 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $120.33. The company had a trading volume of 2,005,155 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,670,046. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $126.81 and its 200-day moving average is $117.64. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $79.92 and a twelve month high of $133.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.99 billion, a PE ratio of 67.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.30% and a net margin of 17.34%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.76%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 205.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Ruth Porat bought 232 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $127.08 per share, for a total transaction of $29,482.56. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 34,225 shares in the company, valued at $4,349,313. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total transaction of $3,694,498.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 982,221 shares in the company, valued at approximately $125,773,399.05. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 232 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $127.08 per share, with a total value of $29,482.56. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 34,225 shares in the company, valued at $4,349,313. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,587,168 shares of company stock worth $37,816,476 over the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on BX shares. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Blackstone from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $119.97.

Blackstone Profile

Blackstone Inc is an alternative asset management firm specializing in real estate, private equity, hedge fund solutions, credit, secondary funds of funds, public debt and equity and multi-asset class strategies. The firm typically invests in early-stage companies. It also provide capital markets services.