Blackstone Inc. $BX Position Increased by Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 11.1% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 188,475 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,854 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $28,192,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 519,669.1% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 70,132,441 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,490,411,000 after buying an additional 70,118,948 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,997,581 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $9,504,702,000 after acquiring an additional 1,102,949 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 16.3% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,292,320 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $739,761,000 after buying an additional 742,829 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 4.4% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 4,291,546 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $599,872,000 after buying an additional 182,526 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.9% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,162,867 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $581,886,000 after buying an additional 117,724 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director owned 695,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $122,237,547.33. This trade represents a 13.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total value of $8,829,594.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 737,248 shares in the company, valued at $128,015,742.72. This represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have acquired 3,727,877 shares of company stock worth $95,046,625 and have sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. JMP Securities boosted their price target on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Dbs Bank raised Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Blackstone from $207.00 to $199.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.00.

Blackstone Stock Down 4.2%

NYSE:BX opened at $153.88 on Monday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $113.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.77. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $172.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $154.28.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%. Equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 110.75%.

Blackstone Company 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.