Pure Financial Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Pure Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 5,687 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $669,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Redwood Financial Network Corp raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 3,588 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $537,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management increased its holdings in Blackstone by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 3,453 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $590,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Brogan Financial Inc. raised its position in Blackstone by 2.5% during the third quarter. Brogan Financial Inc. now owns 2,904 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $496,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC now owns 3,997 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $616,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Founders Financial Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Founders Financial Securities LLC now owns 1,928 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $143.25 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $107.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a 50 day moving average of $129.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $122.68. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $101.73 and a 52-week high of $190.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.18. Blackstone had a net margin of 21.84% and a return on equity of 23.77%. The business had revenue of $5.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 35.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd were issued a $1.29 dividend. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 115.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, CAO David Payne sold 9,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.23, for a total value of $1,379,685.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 64,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,359,783.04. This represents a 12.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv L.P. Blackstone acquired 272,642 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $26.14 per share, with a total value of $7,126,861.88. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 8,704,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,533,512.66. The trade was a 3.23% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have acquired 1,611,822 shares of company stock valued at $42,189,294 and have sold 7,562,000 shares valued at $40,331,085. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Blackstone from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $114.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. HSBC reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Rothschild & Co Redburn dropped their target price on Blackstone from $134.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, June 8th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $147.95.

Blackstone Profile

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.