Montecito Bank & Trust Makes New Investment in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Montecito Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 5,351 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $914,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Blackstone by 34.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,365,000 after purchasing an additional 2,035 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 8.4% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 70,986 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $9,922,000 after buying an additional 5,473 shares in the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 9,011 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,260,000 after acquiring an additional 545 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Blackstone by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 167,353 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $23,393,000 after acquiring an additional 3,928 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. raised its position in Blackstone by 31.0% in the first quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. now owns 36,806 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,109,000 after purchasing an additional 8,716 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX opened at $153.84 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $113.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.76. The business’s fifty day moving average is $149.51 and its 200 day moving average is $158.92. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $190.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.56% and a return on equity of 22.30%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 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 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 147.43%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the subject of several recent research reports. BNP Paribas Exane lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $178.00 to $167.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $173.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Blackstone from $208.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $171.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $199.00 to $189.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.95.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director James Breyer bought 13,900 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $143.86 per share, with a total value of $1,999,654.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 68,906 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,912,817.16. The trade was a 25.27% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone acquired 2,538,071 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 22nd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $25.61 per share, for a total transaction of $64,999,998.31. Following the transaction, the insider owned 7,506,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $192,234,012.49. The trade was a 51.09% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders bought 2,950,751 shares of company stock valued at $79,050,138 in the last quarter. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.