Hilltop National Bank Purchases 470 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Hilltop National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,998 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 470 shares during the quarter. Hilltop National Bank’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,241,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BX. Bangor Savings Bank raised its holdings in Blackstone by 187.5% during the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the period. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 32.1% during the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 255 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 57.7% during the third quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 276 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone by 232.1% in the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 279 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Down 4.9 %

Shares of BX stock traded down $8.53 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $165.44. 1,660,062 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,116,207. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $114.88 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $180.80 and its 200-day moving average is $156.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The company has a market cap of $119.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.53.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.46% and a return on equity of 17.53%. Analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.08%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 118.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on BX. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Blackstone from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $188.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $169.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.00.

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.