Country Trust Bank Increases Stake in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Country Trust Bank grew its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 33.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 271,880 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 67,847 shares during the quarter. Country Trust Bank’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $41,908,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. now owns 4,820 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $743,000 after buying an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Jmac Enterprises LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Jmac Enterprises LLC now owns 9,500 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,464,000 after buying an additional 800 shares during the period. Kaizen Financial Strategies lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Kaizen Financial Strategies now owns 27,127 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,181,000 after buying an additional 219 shares during the period. Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 55,457 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $8,548,000 after buying an additional 1,358 shares during the period. Finally, Buffalo Business & Estate Services Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $378,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Holdings Iv Gp Mana Blackstone acquired 2,868,069 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 20th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $26.15 per share, for a total transaction of $75,000,004.35. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 18,628,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $487,129,914.25. This trade represents a 18.20% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total value of $15,961,420.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BX. Argus lowered their price target on shares of Blackstone from $195.00 to $163.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, February 23rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $179.00 target price for the company. Barclays lowered their price target on Blackstone from $164.00 to $126.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 2nd. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Blackstone from $183.00 to $164.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $195.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, January 30th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $162.10.

Blackstone Price Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $112.27 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $101.73 and a 12-month high of $190.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $83.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.94, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.74. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $120.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $142.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The asset manager reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.21. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.89% and a return on equity of 22.17%. The company had revenue of $4.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.69 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.69 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 41.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th were issued a dividend of $1.49 per share. This represents a $5.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.3%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 9th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 153.61%.

About Blackstone

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.