Emprise Bank Invests $206,000 in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Emprise Bank has made a new investment of $206,000 in Blackstone Inc. by acquiring 1,375 shares during the second quarter, reflecting growing interest in the asset manager.
• Blackstone recently reported a quarterly earnings of $1.21 per share, surpassing estimates and achieving a 32.7% increase in revenue year-over-year.
• The company has increased its quarterly dividend to $1.03, marking a rise from its previous payment of $0.93 and representing an annualized yield of 2.2%.

Emprise Bank bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,375 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,365,000 after buying an additional 2,035 shares during the period. Man Group plc grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 222.0% during the 4th quarter. Man Group plc now owns 41,847 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $7,215,000 after acquiring an additional 28,850 shares during the period. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $315,000. Tidal Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 66.7% during the 4th quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 27,996 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $4,827,000 after acquiring an additional 11,202 shares during the period. Finally, Twinbeech Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $68,403,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX opened at $183.83 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $135.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.77. 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 50 day moving average of $170.65 and a 200 day moving average of $150.65. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. Blackstone's payout ratio is presently 110.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, CAO David Payne sold 9,400 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.97, for a total value of $1,597,718.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 54,488 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,261,325.36. The trade was a 14.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat bought 222 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $170.29 per share, with a total value of $37,804.38. Following the transaction, the director owned 38,753 shares in the company, valued at $6,599,248.37. This trade represents a 0.58% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627 and have sold 16,871,634 shares worth $135,328,376. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on BX shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Dbs Bank raised shares of Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Saturday, July 19th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $172.38.

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.

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