Heartland Bank & Trust Co Takes Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Heartland Bank & Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 3,641 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $428,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BX. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at about $6,112,162,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,275,747,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $514,736,000. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 99.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,381,767 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $983,690,000 after buying an additional 3,178,133 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter worth $270,380,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.6%

Blackstone stock opened at $143.56 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $101.73 and a fifty-two week high of $190.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The firm has a market cap of $107.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.56. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $128.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $122.57.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $5.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 23.77% and a net margin of 21.84%.The company’s revenue was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd were given a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 115.44%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone purchased 765,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $26.14 per share, for a total transaction of $20,000,001.54. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 7,882,145 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $206,039,270.30. This represents a 10.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.11, for a total transaction of $6,619,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 516,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,911,260.87. This represents a 8.02% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 1,339,180 shares of company stock worth $35,062,433 and have sold 7,562,000 shares worth $40,331,085. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on BX. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Blackstone from $139.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Blackstone from $133.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Argus raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, June 8th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, June 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $147.95.

Blackstone Profile

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.