Next Capital Management LLC Sells 162 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Next Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 2.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,730 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 162 shares during the period. Next Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $709,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter worth $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter worth about $26,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Bank & Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the second quarter valued at $31,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on BX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped 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. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Bank of America increased their target price on Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Blackstone in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $163.00 price objective for the company. Finally, 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 target on the stock. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $130.78.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 $113,305,632. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,567,311.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the director now owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at $113,305,632. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $154.94 on Monday. 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 quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. The company has a market capitalization of $110.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $141.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $130.47.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly 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 net margin of 19.35% and a return on equity of 17.43%. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.93 earnings per share. Blackstone’s 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 fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Investors of record on Monday, July 29th were issued a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 29th. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.12%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is currently 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.