Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 11.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the quarter. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $150,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 105.4% during the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 13,405 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,874,000 after buying an additional 6,878 shares during the period. Kera Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the second quarter valued at $273,000. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 22.1% in the 2nd quarter. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC now owns 12,042 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,801,000 after buying an additional 2,182 shares during the period. Narwhal Capital Management raised its holdings in Blackstone by 34.3% in the 1st quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 64,614 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,032,000 after buying an additional 16,486 shares during the period. Finally, Bourgeon Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $423,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $168.40 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $173.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $153.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The company has a market cap of $124.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.77.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 110.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Barclays boosted their target price on Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Blackstone in a report on Friday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $190.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $176.00.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone purchased 1,189,532 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $25.22 per share, for a total transaction of $29,999,997.04. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 4,178,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $105,388,604.62. This trade represents a 39.79% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total transaction of $19,852,970.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 695,757 shares in the company, valued at $122,237,547.33. This represents a 13.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have bought 3,727,877 shares of company stock valued at $95,046,625 and have sold 16,984,634 shares valued at $155,181,346. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone 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.