Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. Acquires 624 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 2.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,865 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 624 shares during the quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $3,961,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $5,163,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 1,019 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $156,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Second Line Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $364,000. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 3.8% in the third quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,397 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $673,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rehmann Capital Advisory Group raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.4% during the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 21,567 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,303,000 after acquiring an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction of $7,433,289.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total transaction of $17,561,522.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at $120,610,146.69. This trade represents a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $125.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. TD Cowen raised Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $149.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group upped their price target on Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $174.00 to $199.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $164.69.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $192.46 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $138.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $112.09 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The business has a 50-day moving average of $174.63 and a 200 day moving average of $148.41.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.37 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th were given a dividend of $0.86 per share. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 118.21%.

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.