Blackstone Inc. $BX is Randolph Co Inc's 4th Largest Position

Key Points

• Randolph Co Inc has increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 1.8%, making it the firm's fourth largest holding, now accounting for approximately 5.0% of their total portfolio valued at about $48.7 million.
• Analysts have recently raised their price targets for Blackstone, with Deutsche Bank increasing it from $170 to $192, and Evercore ISI raising it to $197, resulting in an overall average target of $172.38.
• Blackstone declared a quarterly dividend of $1.03 per share, an increase from the previous $0.93, which translates to an annualized dividend of $4.12 and a yield of 2.3%.

Randolph Co Inc boosted its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 1.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 325,599 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 5,777 shares during the quarter. Blackstone accounts for about 5.0% of Randolph Co Inc's portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Randolph Co Inc's holdings in Blackstone were worth $48,703,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Jeppson Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Jeppson Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,549 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $980,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. McAdam LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 4.4% in the first quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 1,762 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $246,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% during the first quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,819 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,652,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 3.7% during the second quarter. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,111 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $316,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Park National Corp OH increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 3.4% during the second quarter. Park National Corp OH now owns 2,334 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $349,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on BX shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Citigroup restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $172.38.

Blackstone Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $175.86 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $129.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.28, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.77. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $173.96 and a 200 day moving average of $152.55.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share 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 firm's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict 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 was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a 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 payout ratio is currently 110.75%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone purchased 1,189,532 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $25.22 per share, for a total transaction of $29,999,997.04. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 4,178,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $105,388,604.62. This trade represents a 39.79% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone purchased 2,538,071 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 22nd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $25.61 per share, for a total transaction of $64,999,998.31. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 7,506,209 shares of the company's stock, valued at $192,234,012.49. This represents a 51.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders acquired 3,727,877 shares of company stock valued at $95,046,625 and sold 16,871,634 shares valued at $135,328,376. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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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