Community Trust & Investment Co. Has $4.37 Million Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Community Trust & Investment Co. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,340 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 468 shares during the period. Community Trust & Investment Co.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $4,369,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Bangor Savings Bank raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 187.5% during the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in Blackstone in the second quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 32.1% in the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 255 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com raised Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $148.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $169.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now owns 387,137 shares in the company, valued at $68,112,883.78. The trade was a 9.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE BX opened at $169.27 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $180.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $157.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $122.21 billion, a PE ratio of 58.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $114.88 and a 1 year high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The asset manager reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.37 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. Analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th were given 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 yield of 2.03%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 118.21%.

Blackstone 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.