Trustmark National Bank Trust Department Buys 100 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Trustmark National Bank Trust Department raised its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,100 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Trustmark National Bank Trust Department’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $322,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 12,192.7% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 7,340,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $908,797,000 after purchasing an additional 7,281,128 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 15,357.3% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,201,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,433,220,000 after purchasing an additional 4,173,971 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone by 19,048.1% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,883,409 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $247,423,000 after acquiring an additional 1,873,573 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in Blackstone by 213.5% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,375,969 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $170,345,000 after acquiring an additional 937,084 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in Blackstone by 468.4% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,107,547 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $137,114,000 after acquiring an additional 912,685 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total transaction of $17,561,522.88. Following the transaction, the director now owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $120,610,146.69. This trade represents a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total value of $7,433,289.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX stock opened at $194.21 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $164.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $141.94. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $105.51 and a twelve month high of $194.64. The firm has a market cap of $140.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.74, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.49.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. Analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 28th were paid a dividend of $0.86 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 28th. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.77%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 118.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on BX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $157.63.

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.