Citizens & Northern Corp Purchases 2,502 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Citizens & Northern Corp increased its holdings in Blackstone Inc. by 19.1% during Q2, acquiring an additional 2,502 shares, bringing its total to 15,607 shares valued at $2,334,000.
• Major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone significantly increased its stake by purchasing over 2.5 million shares, boosting its ownership by 51.09% and bringing its total to approximately 7.5 million shares.
• Analysts have mixed ratings for Blackstone, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a price target averaging $183.68, influenced by recent target price updates from multiple brokerages.

Citizens & Northern Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 19.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 15,607 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 2,502 shares during the period. Citizens & Northern Corp's holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,334,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 160,582 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $24,020,000 after buying an additional 1,158 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.9% in the second quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 147,094 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $22,002,000 after acquiring an additional 4,132 shares during the period. Beech Hill Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Blackstone by 16.8% during the 2nd quarter. Beech Hill Advisors Inc. now owns 29,970 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $4,483,000 after purchasing an additional 4,310 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 135,824 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $20,316,000 after purchasing an additional 3,636 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. raised its stake in Blackstone by 5.9% during the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 339,265 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $50,747,000 after buying an additional 19,052 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on BX. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Blackstone from $172.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $181.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $171.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Finally, HSBC boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $179.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $183.68.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone bought 2,538,071 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 22nd. The shares were bought at an average price of $25.61 per share, for a total transaction of $64,999,998.31. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 7,506,209 shares in the company, valued at $192,234,012.49. This trade represents a 51.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total transaction of $8,829,594.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 737,248 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $128,015,742.72. The trade was a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 2,538,345 shares of company stock worth $65,046,628 and have sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $161.63 on Wednesday. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $119.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.77. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $171.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $155.27.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.

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