Midwest Trust Co Takes Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Midwest Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 176,230 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $26,360,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Prescott Group Capital Management L.L.C. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 51.7% during the 2nd quarter. Prescott Group Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 2,940 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $440,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002 shares in the last quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in Blackstone by 9.1% in the second quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 8,964 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,341,000 after buying an additional 750 shares in the last quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 8,035 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,202,000 after acquiring an additional 504 shares in the last quarter. Rathbones Group PLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 25.6% during the 2nd quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 29,018 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,341,000 after acquiring an additional 5,921 shares during the period. Finally, Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 92.9% in the 2nd quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC now owns 40,113 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,000,000 after purchasing an additional 19,321 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on BX. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Blackstone from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $177.00 to $176.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 24th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 27th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $208.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $173.00 to $168.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 24th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.74.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director James Breyer bought 13,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 4th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $143.86 per share, for a total transaction of $1,999,654.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 68,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,912,817.16. This trade represents a 25.27% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the insider owned 737,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $128,015,742.72. This represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders acquired 2,565,415 shares of company stock worth $69,037,981 and sold 16,875,234 shares worth $136,847,628. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $146.00 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The company has a market cap of $107.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $165.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $157.40.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.56% and a return on equity of 22.30%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 3rd. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 147.43%.

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.