Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Sold by JRM Investment Counsel LLC

Key Points

• JRM Investment Counsel LLC sold 34.7% of its holdings in Blackstone Inc., reducing its share count to 22,992, now worth approximately $3.2 million.
• Blackstone's recent quarterly earnings report showed a profit of $1.21 EPS, surpassing estimates, and revenue of $3.07 billion, reflecting a significant 32.7% increase year-over-year.
• The company recently increased its quarterly dividend to $1.03 per share, representing a 2.4% yield, up from $0.93 previously.

JRM Investment Counsel LLC trimmed its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 34.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,992 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 12,229 shares during the period. Blackstone accounts for about 1.1% of JRM Investment Counsel LLC's holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. JRM Investment Counsel LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $3,214,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its position in Blackstone by 105.4% during the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 13,405 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,874,000 after purchasing an additional 6,878 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $63,109,000. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 6.6% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 31,212 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $4,363,000 after buying an additional 1,943 shares during the period. Comprehensive Money Management Services LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth about $1,747,000. Finally, Narwhal Capital Management boosted its stake in Blackstone by 34.3% during the first quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 64,614 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $9,032,000 after buying an additional 16,486 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 222 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $170.29 per share, for a total transaction of $37,804.38. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 38,753 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,599,248.37. This represents a 0.58% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total transaction of $8,829,594.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 737,248 shares in the company, valued at $128,015,742.72. This represents a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders bought 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627 and sold 16,850,134 shares worth $131,641,986. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on BX shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Saturday, July 19th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $170.12.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $170.2430 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $125.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.76, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.71. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $161.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $149.76. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were given a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's payout ratio is presently 110.75%.

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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