Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC Sells 6,517 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC has significantly reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 64.9%, selling 6,517 shares to hold a total of 3,529 shares valued at approximately $528,000.
• Blackstone reported quarterly earnings with an EPS of $1.21, surpassing analyst expectations of $1.10, and posted a revenue of $3.07 billion, a 32.7% increase year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend increase to $1.03 per share, reflecting a payout ratio of 110.75% and a dividend yield of 2.5%.

Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC decreased its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 64.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,529 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 6,517 shares during the period. Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $528,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mattern Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,213 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $331,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 8,036 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,202,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Jeppson Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Jeppson Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,549 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $980,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. McAdam LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 1,762 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $246,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Angeles Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,819 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,652,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $162.48 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $119.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.77. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $173.11 and a 200-day moving average of $154.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 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 company had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. Blackstone's revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. 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 2.5%. Blackstone's payout ratio is presently 110.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on BX. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $190.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on Blackstone from $215.00 to $208.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $179.67.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone bought 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 approximately $192,234,012.49. This trade represents a 51.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total value of $104,478,673.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have acquired 3,727,877 shares of company stock worth $95,046,625 and have sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

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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