OLD Second National Bank of Aurora Purchases 523 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

OLD Second National Bank of Aurora boosted its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 35,788 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 523 shares during the period. Blackstone accounts for about 1.3% of OLD Second National Bank of Aurora’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $4,685,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 30.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,091,903 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,652,526,000 after buying an additional 14,396,655 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 22,495,670 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,668,954,000 after purchasing an additional 798,734 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 2.1% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,157,334 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,419,249,000 after acquiring an additional 332,962 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 13.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,825,769 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,588,433,000 after acquiring an additional 1,744,652 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 7.1% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,925,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $695,952,000 after acquiring an additional 522,561 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BX traded down $2.86 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $120.33. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,005,155 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,670,046. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.99 billion, a PE ratio of 67.32, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $126.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $117.64. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $79.92 and a 52 week high of $133.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by ($0.02). Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.30% and a net margin of 17.34%. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.97 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.76%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 205.46%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total transaction of $6,268,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 393,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,294,783.99. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 28,852 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.05, for a total transaction of $3,694,498.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 982,221 shares in the company, valued at $125,773,399.05. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total value of $6,268,570.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 393,143 shares in the company, valued at $50,294,783.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on BX shares. Citigroup cut Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $116.00 to $124.00 in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Blackstone from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Oppenheimer cut Blackstone from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $119.97.

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.