Black Stone Minerals (NYSE:BSM) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

Black Stone Minerals, L.P. (NYSE:BSM) shares 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 traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on BSM shares. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Black Stone Minerals in a research note on Friday, May 29th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $16.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings raised Black Stone Minerals from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Black Stone Minerals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Black Stone Minerals presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.00.

Black Stone Minerals Stock Up 0.1%

The company has a current ratio of 3.76, a quick ratio of 3.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $14.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.37. The firm has a market cap of $3.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.21 and a beta of 0.05.

Black Stone Minerals (NYSE:BSM) last posted its earnings results 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 analyst estimates of $108.28 million. Black Stone Minerals had a net margin of 61.72% and a return on equity of 41.48%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Black Stone Minerals, L.P. will post 0.95 EPS for the current year.

Black Stone Minerals Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 6th were paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 6th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.7%. This is a boost from Black Stone Minerals’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Black Stone Minerals’s dividend payout ratio is 105.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director James Whitehead sold 2,127,105 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The stock was 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 SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 17.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Black Stone Minerals

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. ING Groep NV raised its position in Black Stone Minerals by 42.9% during the fourth quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 728,600 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $9,683,000 after purchasing an additional 218,900 shares in the last quarter. Saber Capital Managment LLC bought a new stake in shares of Black Stone Minerals during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $8,389,000. Lummis Asset Management LP raised its position in Black Stone Minerals by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Lummis Asset Management LP now owns 343,043 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $4,508,000 after purchasing an additional 2,280 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Black Stone Minerals by 140.2% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 207,367 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $2,756,000 after purchasing an additional 121,043 shares during the period. Finally, Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lifted its holdings in Black Stone Minerals by 154.8% during the fourth quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 143,484 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $1,907,000 after buying an additional 87,172 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.