Huntington National Bank Purchases 452 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Huntington National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,451 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 452 shares during the quarter. Huntington National Bank’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $3,744,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 7.7% during the first quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 21,159 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,780,000 after acquiring an additional 1,519 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 21.8% during the 1st quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 34,222 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,496,000 after buying an additional 6,131 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the first quarter worth about $7,922,000. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at about $252,000. Finally, Nicolet Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone by 4.2% during the first quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 10,294 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,359,000 after buying an additional 413 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $181.21 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $159.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $139.31. The firm has a market cap of $130.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.27, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.49. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $102.59 and a one year high of $184.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.71.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. Research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.39 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th were given a $0.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.90%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 118.21%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total transaction of $17,561,522.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at $120,610,146.69. This represents a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the sale, the insider now owns 387,137 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup boosted their price target on Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $169.00 to $188.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Blackstone from $112.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $157.63.

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.