Argent Trust Co Purchases 5,000 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Argent Trust Co increased its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 6.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 78,581 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,000 shares during the period. Argent Trust Co’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $9,728,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BX. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 36.6% during the 4th quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 36,215 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,741,000 after buying an additional 9,699 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 367,841 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $48,158,000 after buying an additional 28,856 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 254,099 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $33,267,000 after purchasing an additional 20,830 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 431,784 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $53,455,000 after purchasing an additional 7,692 shares during the period. Finally, Norden Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2,072.0% in the 1st quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 36,555 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,802,000 after purchasing an additional 34,872 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Blackstone in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $163.00 price target on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Blackstone from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.78.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total transaction of $14,323,104.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 921,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $113,305,632. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total transaction of $4,610,900.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 429,386 shares in the company, valued at $56,567,311.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total value of $14,323,104.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $113,305,632. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX stock opened at $155.07 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $110.82 billion, a PE ratio of 54.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.51. 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 business has a 50 day moving average of $137.73 and a 200-day moving average of $128.72. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $88.59 and a 12-month high of $156.46.

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

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 29th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 115.90%.

Blackstone Company Profile

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.