SFE Investment Counsel Buys 4,678 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

SFE Investment Counsel grew its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 11.9% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 44,140 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,678 shares during the period. SFE Investment Counsel’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $6,602,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Arcus Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Arcus Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,937 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $739,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Mattern Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 2.8% during the second quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,213 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $331,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its position in Blackstone by 3.5% during the second quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 1,784 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $267,000 after buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 8,036 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,202,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WNY Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.7% during the second quarter. WNY Asset Management LLC now owns 3,852 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $576,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 27th. HSBC dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $179.00 to $178.00 in a report on Monday, October 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Blackstone from $180.00 to $171.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Blackstone from $173.00 to $168.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Blackstone from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.74.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $146.00 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $165.79 and a 200 day moving average of $157.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $107.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.71, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.76. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 3rd will be issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 147.43%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, 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 value of $8,829,594.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 737,248 shares in the company, valued at $128,015,742.72. This trade represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total value of $104,478,673.84. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have purchased 2,565,415 shares of company stock worth $69,037,981 and have sold 16,875,234 shares worth $136,847,628. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.