Busey Bank Sells 185 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Busey Bank lowered its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 4.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,705 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 185 shares during the quarter. Busey Bank’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $639,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Bangor Savings Bank boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 187.5% in the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Blackstone by 32.1% in the third 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 last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 42,249 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.94, for a total transaction of $7,433,289.06. Following 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BX. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $171.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $169.56.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE BX opened at $177.78 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $128.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.53. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $180.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $161.84. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.82 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.53% and a net margin of 19.46%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.45 EPS for the current year.

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.