Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Purchased by FineMark National Bank & Trust

FineMark National Bank & Trust raised its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 14.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 71,747 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,108 shares during the quarter. FineMark National Bank & Trust’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $10,732,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 34.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,365,000 after purchasing an additional 2,035 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in Blackstone by 104.9% during the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,321 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $464,000 after acquiring an additional 1,700 shares during the last quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 24.8% in the 1st quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC now owns 3,810 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $533,000 after acquiring an additional 758 shares during the period. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 124.5% during the 1st quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 844 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $119,000 after purchasing an additional 468 shares during the period. Finally, Ignite Planners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter valued at $391,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $195.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $200.00 to $199.00 in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $166.00 to $164.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane cut their target price on Blackstone from $178.00 to $167.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.00.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $136.54 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.75. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $200.96. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $161.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $157.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.82 billion, a PE ratio of 39.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.76.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share 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. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were given a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 147.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, Director James Breyer bought 13,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 4th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $143.86 per share, for a total transaction of $1,999,654.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 68,906 shares in the company, valued at $9,912,817.16. This trade represents a 25.27% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 324 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 10th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $146.92 per share, with a total value of $47,602.08. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 39,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,741,192.84. This represents a 0.84% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have acquired 2,565,543 shares of company stock valued at $69,050,139. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.