Black Stone Minerals (NYSE:BSM) Shares Gap Down – Here’s What Happened

Black Stone Minerals, L.P. (NYSE:BSM)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $15.17, but opened at $14.70. Black Stone Minerals shares last traded at $14.7410, with a volume of 20,207 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BSM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Black Stone Minerals from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Black Stone Minerals in a research report on Friday, May 29th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $16.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Black Stone Minerals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.00.

Black Stone Minerals Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $3.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.27 and a beta of 0.05. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $14.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $14.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 3.76 and a current ratio of 3.76.

Black Stone Minerals (NYSE:BSM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $148.97 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $108.28 million. Black Stone Minerals had a return on equity of 41.48% and a net margin of 61.72%. On average, equities analysts expect that Black Stone Minerals, L.P. will post 0.95 EPS for the current year.

Black Stone Minerals Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 6th were issued a $0.32 dividend. This is a boost from Black Stone Minerals’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 6th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.6%. Black Stone Minerals’s payout ratio is presently 105.79%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director James Whitehead sold 2,127,105 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.21, for a total value of $28,099,057.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 17.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Black Stone Minerals

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. IKE Capital LLC lifted its stake in Black Stone Minerals by 6.2% during the second quarter. IKE Capital LLC now owns 17,000 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $237,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Aristides Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Black Stone Minerals by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Aristides Capital LLC now owns 35,516 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $472,000 after buying an additional 1,120 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its stake in Black Stone Minerals by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 42,516 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $643,000 after buying an additional 1,228 shares in the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Black Stone Minerals in the second quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Lummis Asset Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Black Stone Minerals by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Lummis Asset Management LP now owns 343,043 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $4,508,000 after acquiring an additional 2,280 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 14.49% of the company’s stock.

Black Stone Minerals Company Profile

Black Stone Minerals, L.P. is a publicly traded master limited partnership that owns oil and natural gas mineral and royalty interests in the United States. The company generally does not operate wells directly; instead, it leases its mineral interests to exploration and production companies and receives royalty payments from the oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids produced from those properties.

Black Stone Minerals’ assets are located across numerous U.S. oil and gas regions, with significant exposure to areas including the Permian Basin, Haynesville Basin and Eagle Ford shale.