Commerce Bank Has $12.44 Million Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Commerce Bank raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 170.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 81,260 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 51,170 shares during the quarter. Commerce Bank's holdings in Blackstone were worth $12,443,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. MWA Asset Management lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. MWA Asset Management now owns 16,152 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,473,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the third quarter valued at approximately $275,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,169,526 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $179,089,000 after purchasing an additional 36,343 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at $4,083,000. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise acquired a new position in Blackstone during the third quarter worth $66,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of BX stock opened at $185.03 on Thursday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $133.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 63.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.49. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $105.47 and a 12-month high of $187.12. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $163.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $141.57.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th were given a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 118.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on BX shares. Citigroup raised their price objective on Blackstone from $157.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $112.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $169.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $157.63.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

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

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.