M&T Bank Corp Reduces Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

M&T Bank Corp reduced its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 30.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 124,947 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 55,633 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $18,690,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Perigon Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 62,484 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,346,000 after purchasing an additional 1,949 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Blackstone by 2.2% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,492,377 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,394,670,000 after buying an additional 1,494,796 shares during the last quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 21.2% during the second quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC now owns 18,785 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,810,000 after acquiring an additional 3,281 shares during the last quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $273,000. Finally, Bourgeon Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the second quarter valued at approximately $423,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total value of $19,852,970.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 695,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $122,237,547.33. The trade was a 13.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone bought 2,538,071 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 22nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $25.61 per share, with a total value of $64,999,998.31. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 7,506,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $192,234,012.49. This trade represents a 51.09% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders bought a total of 2,950,751 shares of company stock worth $79,050,138 over the last quarter. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $146.70 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $153.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $158.04. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $194.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The company has a market capitalization of $108.33 billion, a PE ratio of 41.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.76.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. On average, equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 3rd. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 147.43%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on BX. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $208.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $165.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Blackstone from $199.00 to $187.00 in a report on Monday, November 10th. HSBC reduced their price target on Blackstone from $179.00 to $178.00 in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $178.00 to $167.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.00.

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.