Waldron Private Wealth LLC Buys 4,988 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Waldron Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 10.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 53,954 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,988 shares during the quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $8,070,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Arcus Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% in the second quarter. Arcus Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,937 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $739,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,213 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $331,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 8,036 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,202,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Jeppson Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Jeppson Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,549 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $980,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, McAdam LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 1,762 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $246,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $154.55 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $113.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.77. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $170.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $156.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.74. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.56% and a return on equity of 22.30%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 3rd will be given a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 117.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on BX. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $195.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday. Dbs Bank raised shares of Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $200.00 to $199.00 in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $197.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $180.26.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total transaction of $3,686,390.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 453,836 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,814,720.56. This trade represents a 4.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total transaction of $8,829,594.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 737,248 shares in the company, valued at $128,015,742.72. This trade represents a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders acquired 2,538,345 shares of company stock worth $65,046,628 and sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.