OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A Sells 1,500 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A lowered its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.1% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 46,130 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,500 shares during the quarter. Blackstone accounts for 2.4% of OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $6,900,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. 1248 Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new position in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total value of $19,852,970.00. Following the completion of 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone acquired 1,189,532 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $25.22 per share, with a total value of $29,999,997.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 4,178,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $105,388,604.62. This represents a 39.79% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders purchased 3,727,877 shares of company stock worth $95,046,625 and sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on BX shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, JMP Securities raised their target price on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $172.71.

Blackstone Stock Down 3.0%

Shares of BX opened at $170.94 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $126.00 billion, a PE ratio of 45.95, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.77. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $174.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $153.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were given a $1.03 dividend. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 110.75%.

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.