Ieq Capital LLC Makes New Investment in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 213,871 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $25,166,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Redwood Financial Network Corp increased its holdings in Blackstone by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 3,588 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $537,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Zacks Investment Management grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 3,453 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $590,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Brogan Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.5% in the third quarter. Brogan Financial Inc. now owns 2,904 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $496,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. SlateStone Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC now owns 3,997 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $616,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Founders Financial Securities LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Founders Financial Securities LLC now owns 1,928 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $297,000 after buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.6%

NYSE BX opened at $143.56 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $128.82 and a 200-day moving average of $122.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $101.73 and a 1-year high of $190.09. The firm has a market cap of $107.76 billion, a PE ratio of 32.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $5.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.42 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 23.77% and a net margin of 21.84%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.99 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were issued a $1.29 dividend. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 115.44%.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, CAO David Payne sold 9,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.23, for a total transaction of $1,379,685.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 64,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,359,783.04. This represents a 12.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.11, for a total value of $6,619,950.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 516,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,911,260.87. This represents a 8.02% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders purchased 1,339,180 shares of company stock valued at $35,062,433 and sold 7,562,000 shares valued at $40,331,085. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on BX shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn dropped their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $161.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, June 8th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $147.95.

Blackstone Profile

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.