Blair William & Co. IL Buys 10,013 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Blair William & Co. IL increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 0.7%, acquiring 10,013 shares to reach a total of 1,355,932 shares valued at approximately $202.8 million.
• Blackstone declared a quarterly dividend of $1.03 per share, raising its annualized dividend to $4.12, with a current yield of 2.5%.
• The company's stock has been rated with an average consensus of "Moderate Buy", with a target price of $179.22 from various equity analysts.

Blair William & Co. IL grew its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 0.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,355,932 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 10,013 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL owned approximately 0.19% of Blackstone worth $202,820,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 34.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,365,000 after purchasing an additional 2,035 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 18.8% during the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 16,123 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,302,000 after buying an additional 2,555 shares in the last quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 32.2% in the 1st quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,419 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $478,000 after buying an additional 833 shares in the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 87,420 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $12,220,000 after acquiring an additional 463 shares during the period. Finally, Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 1.5% in the first quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 28,202 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $3,942,000 after acquiring an additional 428 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, October 3rd. They set an "outperform" rating and a $190.00 price objective for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Blackstone from $207.00 to $199.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. One equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $179.22.

Blackstone Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $162.48 on Thursday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The business's 50 day moving average is $173.11 and its 200-day moving average is $154.09. The stock has a market cap of $119.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 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 analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 110.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total value of $19,852,970.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 695,757 shares in the company, valued at $122,237,547.33. The trade was a 13.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of Blackstone 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 sale, the insider directly owned 737,248 shares of the company's stock, valued at $128,015,742.72. The trade was a 6.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders acquired 3,727,877 shares of company stock valued at $95,046,625 and sold 16,984,634 shares valued at $155,181,346. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

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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