National Bank of Canada FI Has $73.63 Million Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 8.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 602,755 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 48,487 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI owned approximately 0.08% of Blackstone worth $73,631,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE increased its stake in Blackstone by 36.6% during the 4th quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 36,215 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,741,000 after acquiring an additional 9,699 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Blackstone by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 367,841 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $48,158,000 after purchasing an additional 28,856 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in Blackstone by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 254,099 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $33,267,000 after buying an additional 20,830 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 431,784 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $53,455,000 after buying an additional 7,692 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norden Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2,072.0% during the 1st quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 36,555 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,802,000 after acquiring an additional 34,872 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX stock opened at $138.29 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $133.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $127.60. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $88.59 and a 12-month high of $145.16. The firm has a market cap of $98.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.86, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.50.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 19.35%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.93 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 29th were issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 29th. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.37%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 115.90%.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total value of $14,323,104.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 921,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $113,305,632. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total transaction of $4,610,900.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,567,311.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total transaction of $14,323,104.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at $113,305,632. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 target price for the company. Barclays lifted their target price on Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $128.94.

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.