Security National Bank Decreases Stake in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Security National Bank lowered its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 48,599 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 360 shares during the quarter. Blackstone accounts for about 1.3% of Security National Bank’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Security National Bank’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $7,269,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BX. 1248 Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter worth $25,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter worth $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the first quarter valued at $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the first quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the second quarter valued at $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total transaction of $3,686,390.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 453,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,814,720.56. This represents a 4.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.36, for a total value of $16,736,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 808,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $135,353,571.52. The trade was a 11.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders purchased 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 and sold 16,871,634 shares valued at $135,328,376. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. JMP Securities upped their price objective on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Citigroup reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $172.38.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $188.74 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $172.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $151.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $139.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.77.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 110.75%.

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.