Blackstone Inc. $BX Holdings Boosted by Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp

Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp boosted its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1,964.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 103,556 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 98,540 shares during the period. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $15,490,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 1248 Management LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Family CFO Inc purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total transaction of $19,852,970.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 695,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $122,237,547.33. This represents a 13.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total transaction of $8,829,594.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 737,248 shares in the company, valued at $128,015,742.72. This represents a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders purchased 2,565,415 shares of company stock valued at $69,037,981 and sold 16,875,234 shares valued at $136,847,628. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on BX. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Blackstone from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 13th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $165.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 24th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $173.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $195.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.74.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $144.32 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $166.88 and its 200-day moving average is $157.09. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.66 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.75. The company has a market cap of $106.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.23, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.76.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.56% and a return on equity of 22.30%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 3rd will be paid 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 yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 3rd. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 147.43%.

Blackstone 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.