Wealth Effects LLC Acquires 5,825 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Wealth Effects LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 24.2% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 29,916 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 5,825 shares during the quarter. Blackstone accounts for 1.2% of Wealth Effects LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Wealth Effects LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $3,440,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BX. Redwood Financial Network Corp raised its stake in Blackstone by 1.8% in the second quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 3,588 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $537,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,748 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,194,000 after buying an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC now owns 10,935 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,686,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Trivium Point Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Trivium Point Advisory LLC now owns 2,713 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $418,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zacks Investment Management increased its stake in Blackstone by 2.1% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. HSBC dropped their price target on Blackstone from $164.00 to $131.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $150.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $124.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, June 8th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $150.86.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone acquired 765,111 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $26.14 per share, with a total value of $20,000,001.54. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 7,882,145 shares in the company, valued at approximately $206,039,270.30. The trade was a 10.75% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat bought 355 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $123.04 per share, for a total transaction of $43,679.20. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 41,818 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,145,286.72. The trade was a 0.86% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have bought 10,252,345 shares of company stock valued at $209,789,893. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX opened at $115.66 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $120.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $129.22. The firm has a market cap of $85.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.58, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.59. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $101.73 and a 1 year high of $190.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.02. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.86% and a net margin of 20.67%.The firm had revenue of $3.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.11 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th were issued a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 118.67%.

Blackstone Company 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.