Nicolet Bankshares Inc. Trims Stake in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Nicolet Bankshares Inc. sold 1,542 shares of Blackstone Inc., reducing its holdings by 19.0%, leaving it with 6,590 shares worth approximately $921,000.
• Blackstone's quarterly earnings beat expectations with $1.21 per share, surpassing the consensus estimate of $1.10, and its revenue for the quarter grew by 32.7% year-over-year.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $1.03 per share, up from $0.93, resulting in an annualized dividend of $4.12 with a yield of 2.4%.

Nicolet Bankshares Inc. trimmed its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 19.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,590 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 1,542 shares during the period. Nicolet Bankshares Inc.'s holdings in Blackstone were worth $921,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Ascent Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 8,522 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,469,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. Global Assets Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 4,013 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $697,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Angeles Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,819 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,652,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,466 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,460,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. Finally, Nicolet Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,075 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,539,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, July 25th. Dbs Bank raised Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Barclays increased their target price on Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, 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 research report on Friday, July 11th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $172.38.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX stock traded down $0.44 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $171.59. The company had a trading volume of 1,943,579 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,664,666. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $165.11 and a 200-day moving average of $149.71. The company has a market capitalization of $126.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.13, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.71. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. The business 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 business's revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were given a dividend of $1.03 per share. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 110.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total transaction of $8,829,594.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 737,248 shares in the company, valued at $128,015,742.72. This trade represents a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total value of $104,478,673.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders bought 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 and sold 16,850,134 shares valued at $131,641,986. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

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.