Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Bought by Darlington Partners Capital Management LP

Darlington Partners Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,462,700 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 127,498 shares during the quarter. Blackstone accounts for 8.6% of Darlington Partners Capital Management LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $181,082,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Aveo Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $217,000. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd acquired a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $477,000. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. raised its position in Blackstone by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 9,515 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,246,000 after buying an additional 1,333 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 99,134 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $12,979,000 after buying an additional 5,585 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in 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 buying an additional 20,830 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on BX. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Bank of America upped their target price on Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Blackstone in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $163.00 target price on the stock. Redburn Atlantic began coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $130.78.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone 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 transaction, the director now owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at $113,305,632. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated 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 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the firm’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 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. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $152.77 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $140.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $129.86. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $88.59 and a fifty-two week high of $161.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The company has a market cap of $110.01 billion, a PE ratio of 53.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.51.

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). Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 19.35%. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.93 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.57 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.15%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 115.90%.

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.