Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by 1832 Asset Management L.P.

1832 Asset Management L.P. cut its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 30.8% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 71,273 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 31,786 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $8,824,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 254,099 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $33,267,000 after acquiring an additional 20,830 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.8% during the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 431,784 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $53,455,000 after buying an additional 7,692 shares in the last quarter. Norden Group LLC boosted its position in Blackstone by 2,072.0% during the 1st quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 36,555 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,802,000 after acquiring an additional 34,872 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,688 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $614,000 after purchasing an additional 459 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Secured Retirement Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,073,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $157.61 on Wednesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $88.59 and a 12-month high of $161.25. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $140.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $129.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The company has a market capitalization of $112.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.51.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 19.35%. Blackstone’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.93 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 29th were given a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 29th. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.08%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 115.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total value of $14,323,104.00. Following the sale, the director now directly 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 news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now owns 429,386 shares in the company, valued at $56,567,311.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total value of $14,323,104.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 921,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $113,305,632. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on BX shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $130.78.

Blackstone 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.