Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Buys 7,460 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 9.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 83,768 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 7,460 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $10,370,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moseley Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Blackstone by 0.7% during the second quarter. Moseley Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,239 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,391,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. grew its position in Blackstone by 0.6% in the second quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. now owns 13,840 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,713,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 0.6% during the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 13,615 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,686,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. WR Wealth Planners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 23.7% in the 2nd quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 439 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the period. Finally, Beaumont Asset Management L.L.C. raised its holdings in Blackstone by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Beaumont Asset Management L.L.C. now owns 6,672 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $826,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total value of $14,323,104.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $113,305,632. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total transaction of $14,323,104.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 921,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $113,305,632. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total value of $4,610,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,567,311.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $144.00 to $164.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Blackstone from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $128.94.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.8 %

Blackstone stock opened at $142.23 on Wednesday. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $88.59 and a one year high of $145.16. The stock has a market cap of $102.42 billion, a PE ratio of 50.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $134.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $127.90.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.03). Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 19.35%. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.93 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 29th were paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 29th. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.31%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 115.90%.

Blackstone Company 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.