First County Bank CT Purchases 2,443 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

First County Bank CT lifted its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 121.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,453 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,443 shares during the period. First County Bank CT’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $666,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. 1248 Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter worth $30,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.1%

BX stock opened at $175.40 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $129.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.77. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $174.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $153.01.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a dividend of $1.03 per share. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 110.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on BX. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. JMP Securities increased their target price on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Saturday, July 19th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $172.38.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director directly owned 695,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $122,237,547.33. This trade represents a 13.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total value of $8,829,594.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 737,248 shares in the company, valued at approximately $128,015,742.72. This trade represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders bought 3,727,877 shares of company stock valued at $95,046,625 and sold 16,984,634 shares valued at $155,181,346. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.