Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Sold by American National Bank & Trust

American National Bank & Trust cut its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 39.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 3,360 shares during the period. American National Bank & Trust’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $880,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Traub Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Family CFO Inc bought a new stake in Blackstone in the second quarter valued at $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new stake in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Investors Research Corp bought a new position in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth about $34,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on BX shares. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $199.00 to $187.00 in a research report on Monday, November 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Blackstone from $173.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $178.00 to $167.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.95.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $158.58 on Friday. 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 50-day moving average of $148.70 and a 200-day moving average of $160.12. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $190.09. The firm has a market cap of $117.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.76.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its 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. Analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 147.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 324 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 10th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $146.92 per share, for a total transaction of $47,602.08. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 39,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,741,192.84. The trade was a 0.84% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director James Breyer acquired 13,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 4th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $143.86 per share, for a total transaction of $1,999,654.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 68,906 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,912,817.16. This represents a 25.27% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders bought 797,148 shares of company stock worth $24,050,153. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.