Empowered Funds LLC Purchases Shares of 265,227 Blackstone Inc. $BX

Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 265,227 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $31,209,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth about $6,112,162,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter worth approximately $1,364,373,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,275,747,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $605,267,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $514,736,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO David Payne sold 9,500 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.23, for a total value of $1,379,685.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 64,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,359,783.04. The trade was a 12.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv L.P. Blackstone bought 272,642 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $26.14 per share, for a total transaction of $7,126,861.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 8,704,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,533,512.66. The trade was a 3.23% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 1,611,822 shares of company stock worth $42,189,294 and have sold 7,562,000 shares worth $40,331,085. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $143.62 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $101.73 and a fifty-two week high of $190.09. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $130.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $122.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The firm has a market cap of $107.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.13, a PEG ratio of 1.56 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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $5.04 billion during 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 35.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. Analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 115.44%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Blackstone from $140.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Blackstone in a research note on Monday, June 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Blackstone from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $161.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $149.43.

About Blackstone

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.