Kennebec Savings Bank Takes Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new position in Blackstone Inc. during the second quarter, purchasing 4,871 shares valued at approximately $729,000.
• Blackstone reported a strong quarterly earnings performance with an EPS of $1.21, exceeding the consensus estimate by $0.11 and showing a year-over-year revenue increase of 32.7%.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend increase to $1.03 per share, which represents a 2.4% yield and reflects the firm's commitment to returning value to shareholders.

Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 4,871 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $729,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BX. 1248 Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter valued at about $30,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $168.22 on Thursday. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $174.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $153.48. The company has a market cap of $124.00 billion, a PE ratio of 45.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.77. 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 quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its 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. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion for 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 business's revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a $1.03 dividend. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is 110.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total value of $104,478,673.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total transaction of $19,852,970.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 695,757 shares in the company, valued at $122,237,547.33. This represents a 13.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have bought 3,727,877 shares of company stock valued at $95,046,625 and have sold 16,984,634 shares valued at $155,181,346. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on BX shares. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $166.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $172.71.

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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