Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Acquired by Allen Capital Group LLC

Allen Capital Group LLC raised its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 24.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 71,739 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 14,310 shares during the period. Allen Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $8,249,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 34.6% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,365,000 after acquiring an additional 2,035 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings 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 valued at $310,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the period. United Bank boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 14.7% in the second quarter. United Bank now owns 13,528 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,024,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729 shares during the period. Nebula Research & Development LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter worth $1,124,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised 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 valued at $67,703,000 after acquiring an additional 8,655 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.1%

BX opened at $128.18 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $101.73 and a 12 month high of $190.09. The business has a 50-day moving average of $121.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $123.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.18. Blackstone had a net margin of 21.84% and a return on equity of 23.77%. The company had revenue of $5.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. Blackstone’s revenue was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 6 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd will be paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 3rd. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 103.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone bought 573,614 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 23rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $26.15 per share, for a total transaction of $15,000,006.10. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 8,455,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $221,118,071.70. The trade was a 7.28% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 7,477,500 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.78, for a total transaction of $28,264,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 19,374 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $73,233.72. This trade represents a 99.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have acquired a total of 10,825,959 shares of company stock worth $224,789,900 in the last ninety days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BX shares. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $161.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Blackstone in a research report on Monday, June 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Blackstone from $215.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Blackstone from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $147.95.

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.