Amalgamated Bank Buys 7,747 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Amalgamated Bank increased its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 162,677 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,747 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $24,333,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 34.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,365,000 after buying an additional 2,035 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 10.0% in the first quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 10,253 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,433,000 after purchasing an additional 934 shares during the last quarter. BLB&B Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 27.4% in the first quarter. BLB&B Advisors LLC now owns 3,985 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $557,000 after purchasing an additional 857 shares during the last quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 5.6% in the first quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 5,279 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $738,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.9% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 83,520 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,674,000 after purchasing an additional 1,586 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the subject of several research reports. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $195.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, October 24th. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $178.00 to $167.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $177.00 to $176.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $197.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.74.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total transaction of $19,852,970.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 695,757 shares in the company, valued at $122,237,547.33. The trade was a 13.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total transaction of $8,829,594.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 737,248 shares in the company, valued at $128,015,742.72. This trade represents a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders purchased 2,538,345 shares of company stock valued at $65,046,628 and sold 16,984,634 shares valued at $155,181,346. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE BX opened at $148.79 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $169.28 and its 200-day moving average is $156.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The firm has a market cap of $109.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.77.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.56% and a return on equity of 22.30%. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. Sell-side analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 3rd will be given a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 3rd. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 117.71%.

About Blackstone

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.