James Breyer, a director at Blackstone (BX), recently picked up 9,326 more shares of the company. The buy increased his holdings by 37 percent, and came to a total purchase price of just under $1,000,000.
This follows from a series of buys from another director over the past four months, totaling just over 10,000 shares. Going back over the past three years, these are the only insider buys at the company, with sales by company executives and insiders occurring on a regular basis.
Overall, company insiders own 0.8 percent of shares.
Shares of the asset management company are up about 20 percent in the past year, although shares are still about 27 percent off their all-time highs. The rise has occurred even as revenue has slightly dropped, and earnings have slid by about 30 percent over the last year.
Action to take: Shares trade at about 19 times forward earnings, a modest discount compared to a year ago, even with the recent rally. Shares will likely move in line with the overall economy, so should rise over time. Investors today can grab a dividend yield of 4.1 percent to start.
For traders, the September $140 calls, last going for about $3.60, offer mid-to-high double-digit returns in the coming months if a relief rally in the stock market is truly underway. The option would also move in-the-money just before shares got back to their old highs.
Disclosure: The author of this article has no position in the company mentioned here, but may trade after the next 72 hours. The author receives no compensation from any of the companies mentioned in this article.