Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Bought by Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 11.1%, acquiring an additional 18,854 shares and bringing its total holdings to 188,475 shares valued at approximately $28.2 million.
• Analysts remain optimistic with Evercore ISI raising their price target on Blackstone to $197, while the stock currently holds an average rating of "Moderate Buy" with a target price of $179.
• Blackstone recently boosted its quarterly dividend from $0.93 to $1.03, marking an annualized payout of $4.12 and a yield of 2.7%.

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 11.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 188,475 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 18,854 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $28,192,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. 1248 Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter worth about $25,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Family CFO Inc purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $181.00 to $171.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $172.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $190.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $179.00.

Blackstone Trading Down 4.2%

Shares of BX stock opened at $153.88 on Monday. The business's fifty day moving average price is $172.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $154.28. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $113.42 billion, a PE ratio of 41.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is currently 110.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total value of $19,852,970.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 695,757 shares in the company, valued at $122,237,547.33. This represents a 13.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone purchased 2,538,071 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 22nd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $25.61 per share, with a total value of $64,999,998.31. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 7,506,209 shares in the company, valued at $192,234,012.49. This trade represents a 51.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have acquired 3,727,877 shares of company stock valued at $95,046,625 and have sold 16,984,634 shares valued at $155,181,346. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Company 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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