South Plains Financial Inc. Acquires Shares of 1,173 Blackstone Inc. $BX

South Plains Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,173 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $175,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Perigon Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 62,484 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,346,000 after acquiring an additional 1,949 shares during the last quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 21.2% in the 2nd quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC now owns 18,785 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,810,000 after purchasing an additional 3,281 shares during the period. Kera Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at $273,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Blackstone by 2.2% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,492,377 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,394,670,000 after buying an additional 1,494,796 shares during the period. Finally, Bourgeon Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter valued at $423,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $142.59 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $105.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.74, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.76. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $159.22 and its 200 day moving average is $158.07.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.56% and a return on equity of 22.30%. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. Research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were issued a $1.29 dividend. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 147.43%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $166.00 to $164.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Blackstone from $199.00 to $187.00 in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $173.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director James Breyer bought 13,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 4th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $143.86 per share, for a total transaction of $1,999,654.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 68,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,912,817.16. This represents a 25.27% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total value of $19,852,970.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 695,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $122,237,547.33. This represents a 13.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have bought a total of 2,565,543 shares of company stock valued at $69,050,139 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Company 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.