Wambolt & Associates LLC Raises Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Wambolt & Associates LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 9.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 27,899 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 2,476 shares during the period. Wambolt & Associates LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $3,410,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Bank & Trust Co purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on BX shares. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Blackstone from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 price target on the stock. Barclays lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Blackstone from $144.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Blackstone from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $128.94.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $143.27 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $135.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $128.00. The company has a market capitalization of $103.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.63, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $88.59 and a 52 week high of $145.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.35% and a return on equity of 17.43%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.93 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 29th were paid a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 29th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 115.90%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

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