310,353 Shares in Blackstone Inc. $BX Purchased by Kimelman & Baird LLC

Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 310,353 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $36,519,000. Blackstone comprises approximately 2.0% of Kimelman & Baird LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BX. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter valued at about $6,112,162,000. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 32,862,165 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,065,374,000 after purchasing an additional 636,613 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,542,009 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,861,885,000 after purchasing an additional 179,213 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the second quarter worth $1,364,373,000. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $1,275,747,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, June 8th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised Blackstone from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Blackstone from $140.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Rothschild & Co Redburn dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, June 8th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $149.43.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Holdings Iv L.P. Blackstone bought 272,642 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $26.14 per share, for a total transaction of $7,126,861.88. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 8,704,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,533,512.66. This trade represents a 3.23% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO David Payne sold 9,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.23, for a total transaction of $1,379,685.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 64,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,359,783.04. This trade represents a 12.85% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have purchased 1,611,822 shares of company stock valued at $42,189,294 and have sold 7,562,000 shares valued at $40,331,085. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $142.63 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $130.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $122.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market cap of $107.06 billion, a PE ratio of 31.91, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.56. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $101.73 and a 52-week high of $190.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.18. Blackstone had a return on equity of 23.77% and a net margin of 21.84%.The business had revenue of $5.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 35.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.99 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

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

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.