Augustine Asset Management Inc. Has $1.72 Million Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Augustine Asset Management Inc. reduced its holdings in Blackstone Inc. by 11.3% during the second quarter, leaving them with a value of $1.72 million, following the sale of 1,465 shares.
• Key insider transactions include a major shareholder selling over 16.6 million shares for approximately $104.5 million and insider John G. Finley selling 21,500 shares valued at about $3.7 million.
• Blackstone recently declared an increased quarterly dividend of $1.03, reflecting a positive change from the previous $0.93, with a current annualized dividend yield of 2.3%.

Augustine Asset Management Inc. lowered its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 11.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,512 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 1,465 shares during the quarter. Augustine Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,722,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BX. 1248 Management LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the first quarter worth $25,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Blackstone in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total transaction of $104,478,673.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $3,686,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 453,836 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $77,814,720.56. The trade was a 4.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, 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.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX stock opened at $175.40 on Friday. The business's fifty day moving average is $174.09 and its 200-day moving average is $152.81. 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 company has a market cap of $129.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.77. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is presently 110.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on BX shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Barclays increased their price objective on Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $172.38.

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.

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