Alerus Financial NA Reduces Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Alerus Financial NA lessened its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 58.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,872 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,601 shares during the period. Alerus Financial NA’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $287,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter worth $26,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Bank & Trust Co bought a new position in Blackstone in the second quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $68,112,883.78. This represents a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was 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 owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at $120,610,146.69. This trade represents a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on BX. Bank of America upped their price objective on Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $112.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler lowered shares of Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $149.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays increased their price objective on Blackstone from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. 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 MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $157.63.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $191.09 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $169.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $145.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $137.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.67, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.49. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $110.77 and a 52-week high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share (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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were issued a dividend of $0.86 per share. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.80%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.