73,658 Shares in Blackstone Inc. $BX Bought by Manning & Napier Advisors LLC

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 73,658 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $8,667,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 34.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,365,000 after purchasing an additional 2,035 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,076 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $310,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. United Bank raised its holdings in Blackstone by 14.7% in the second quarter. United Bank now owns 13,528 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,024,000 after buying an additional 1,729 shares during the last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter worth $1,124,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.9% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 452,619 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $67,703,000 after purchasing an additional 8,655 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. HSBC reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Zacks Research upgraded Blackstone from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Blackstone from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Blackstone from $161.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $147.95.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $143.66 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $101.73 and a 1 year high of $190.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $107.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The business’s 50-day moving average is $129.20 and its 200 day moving average is $122.50.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $5.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 21.84% and a return on equity of 23.77%. Blackstone’s revenue was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 115.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone bought 765,111 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $26.14 per share, for a total transaction of $20,000,001.54. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 7,882,145 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $206,039,270.30. The trade was a 10.75% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.11, for a total value of $6,619,950.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 516,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $75,911,260.87. The trade was a 8.02% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have bought 1,611,822 shares of company stock worth $42,189,294 and have sold 7,562,000 shares worth $40,331,085. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.