Field & Main Bank Acquires New Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Field & Main Bank bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 18,810 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $2,213,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Redwood Financial Network Corp boosted its position in Blackstone by 1.8% during the second quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 3,588 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $537,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.1% during the third quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 3,453 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $590,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Brogan Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Brogan Financial Inc. now owns 2,904 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $496,000 after buying an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC now owns 3,997 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $616,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Founders Financial Securities LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Founders Financial Securities LLC now owns 1,928 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $297,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 371 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $137.17 per share, with a total value of $50,890.07. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 42,189 shares in the company, valued at $5,787,065.13. This trade represents a 0.89% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 45,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.11, for a total value of $6,619,950.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 516,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $75,911,260.87. The trade was a 8.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders bought 1,611,822 shares of company stock worth $42,189,294 and sold 7,562,000 shares worth $40,331,085. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on BX. HSBC reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, July 20th. Citizens Jmp lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $190.00 to $165.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Barclays upped their target price on Blackstone from $119.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Rothschild & Co Redburn lowered their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Blackstone to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $149.43.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $142.63 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The business has a fifty day moving average of $130.65 and a 200 day moving average of $122.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $107.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.56. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $101.73 and a 1 year high of $190.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.18. Blackstone had a return on equity of 23.77% and a net margin of 21.84%.The business had revenue of $5.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were given a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 115.44%.

Blackstone Company Profile

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.