Emprise Bank Takes $211,000 Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Emprise Bank acquired a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,375 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $211,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Moseley Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Moseley Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,239 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,391,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. boosted its position in Blackstone by 0.6% in the second quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. now owns 13,840 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,713,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% during the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 13,615 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,686,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 23.7% during the 2nd quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 439 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beaumont Asset Management L.L.C. increased its holdings in Blackstone by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Beaumont Asset Management L.L.C. now owns 6,672 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $826,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total value of $4,610,900.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 429,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,567,311.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $152.21 on Thursday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $88.59 and a 12-month high of $161.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The firm has a market cap of $108.78 billion, a PE ratio of 53.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.51. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $142.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $131.01.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.03). Blackstone had a net margin of 19.35% and a return on equity of 17.43%. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.93 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 29th were issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 29th. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.15%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 115.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays upped their price objective on Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 price target for the company. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Blackstone in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $163.00 price objective for the company. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $130.78.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc is an alternative asset management firm specializing in real estate, private equity, hedge fund solutions, credit, secondary funds of funds, public debt and equity and multi-asset class strategies. The firm typically invests in early-stage companies. It also provide capital markets services.