Commerce Bank Purchases 28,719 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Key Points

• Commerce Bank increased its holdings in Blackstone Inc. by 9.9% in the first quarter, owning 320,156 shares valued at approximately $44.75 million.
• Major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone acquired over 1.18 million shares, boosting its ownership by 39.79% and increasing its total to 4.18 million shares.
• Blackstone announced a dividend increase from $0.93 to $1.03, representing a yield of 2.4%, with payment scheduled for August 11th to shareholders of record on August 4th.

Commerce Bank raised its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 9.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 320,156 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 28,719 shares during the quarter. Commerce Bank's holdings in Blackstone were worth $44,751,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BX. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the first quarter worth $36,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the topic of several analyst reports. JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $170.12.

Blackstone Trading Down 1.6%

NYSE BX traded down $2.66 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $167.84. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,874,948 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,277,008. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $153.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $150.43. The stock has a market cap of $122.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.71. 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 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.75.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. The company's revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be paid a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone purchased 1,189,532 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $25.22 per share, for a total transaction of $29,999,997.04. Following the purchase, the insider owned 4,178,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at $105,388,604.62. This trade represents a 39.79% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total transaction of $3,461,750.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 475,336 shares of the company's stock, valued at $65,819,775.92. This trade represents a 5.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.