Global Assets Advisory LLC Sells 5,497 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Global Assets Advisory LLC cut its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 53.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,695 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 5,497 shares during the period. Global Assets Advisory LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $717,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. 1248 Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter worth about $25,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Family CFO Inc bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on BX shares. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Blackstone in a research report on Friday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $190.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $175.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total value of $8,829,594.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 737,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $128,015,742.72. This trade represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 25th. The stock was 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 approximately $122,237,547.33. This trade 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 bought 3,727,877 shares of company stock worth $95,046,625 and sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.1%

NYSE:BX opened at $168.40 on Monday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $173.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $153.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $124.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.27, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.77.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

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

About Blackstone

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.