Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Acquired by Perigon Wealth Management LLC

Key Points

• Perigon Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 3.2% during Q2, acquiring an additional 1,949 shares, bringing their total holdings to 62,484 shares valued at approximately $9.35 million.
• Various brokerages have raised their price targets for Blackstone, with Deutsche Bank increasing it from $170.00 to $192.00 and JMP Securities from $180.00 to $195.00, reflecting strong analyst sentiment towards the stock.
• Blackstone recently increased its quarterly dividend to $1.03 per share from a previous $0.93, indicating a healthy dividend yield of 2.3% despite a payout ratio of 110.75%.

Perigon Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 62,484 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 1,949 shares during the period. Perigon Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $9,346,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. 1248 Management LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter worth $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter worth $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter valued at $30,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on BX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. JMP Securities upped their price objective on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Saturday, July 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $172.38.

Blackstone Stock Down 3.6%

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $178.21 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.66 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $173.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $152.30. The company has a market cap of $131.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.77.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The company had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. The business's revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. 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. Blackstone's payout ratio is currently 110.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone acquired 2,538,071 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 22nd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $25.61 per share, with a total value of $64,999,998.31. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 7,506,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $192,234,012.49. The trade was a 51.09% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total value of $8,829,594.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 737,248 shares in the company, valued at approximately $128,015,742.72. This represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. 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 16,871,634 shares worth $135,328,376. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

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.

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