Ieq Capital LLC Has $28.46 Million Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Ieq Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 65.2% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 229,888 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 90,698 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $28,460,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of BX. Aveo Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth approximately $217,000. Great Lakes Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 3,238 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $424,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the period. CreativeOne Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $238,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 25,510 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,340,000 after buying an additional 2,648 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,349,315 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $176,652,000 after buying an additional 26,442 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Stock Up 3.1 %

Blackstone stock opened at $159.66 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $114.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $88.59 and a 1-year high of $160.24. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $139.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $129.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.35% and a return on equity of 17.43%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.93 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.57 earnings per share 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 $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 29th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 115.90%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $164.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $130.78.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now owns 429,386 shares in the company, valued at $56,567,311.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $113,305,632. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total transaction of $4,610,900.00. Following the sale, the insider now 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. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.