Commerce Bank Makes New $15.18 Million Investment in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Commerce Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 129,014 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $15,181,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $6,112,162,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at $1,275,747,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter worth $514,736,000. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Blackstone by 99.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,381,767 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $983,690,000 after acquiring an additional 3,178,133 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in Blackstone in the second quarter worth about $270,380,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the subject of several research reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Blackstone from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, June 8th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Citizens Jmp reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $190.00 to $165.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Argus lifted their target price on Blackstone from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $147.95.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.55, for a total value of $4,066,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 869,669 shares in the company, valued at $117,883,632.95. This represents a 3.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone acquired 765,111 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were bought at an average price of $26.14 per share, for a total transaction of $20,000,001.54. Following the transaction, the insider owned 7,882,145 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $206,039,270.30. The trade was a 10.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 1,339,180 shares of company stock valued at $35,062,433 and have sold 7,562,000 shares valued at $40,331,085. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $143.56 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $107.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.56. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $101.73 and a 1-year high of $190.09. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $128.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $122.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $5.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.42 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 21.84% and a return on equity of 23.77%. The company’s revenue was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. Research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were given a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 115.44%.

Blackstone Company 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.