Kestra Advisory Services LLC Has $19.75 Million Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Kestra Advisory Services LLC reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 9.1%, lowering its holdings to 141,289 shares valued at approximately $19.75 million.
• Several institutional investors, including GAMMA Investing LLC and Vanguard Group Inc., significantly increased their positions in Blackstone during the first quarter, indicating strong investor interest.
• Blackstone recently raised its quarterly dividend to $1.03 per share, marking an increase from the previous quarter's dividend, with a 2.4% dividend yield.

Kestra Advisory Services LLC reduced its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 9.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 141,289 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 14,202 shares during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $19,749,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ascent Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 8,522 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,469,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 4,013 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $697,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,819 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,652,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,466 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,460,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nicolet Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,075 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,539,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. JMP Securities upped their price objective on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price 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 target 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. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $172.38.

Blackstone Price Performance

Blackstone stock traded up $0.31 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $171.74. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,042,960 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,226,161. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $163.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $149.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $126.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

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