Dakota Wealth Management Increases Stake in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Dakota Wealth Management increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 13.3% during the 2nd quarter, raising its holdings to 48,802 shares valued at $7.3 million.
• Insider transactions included Ruth Porat acquiring 222 shares while John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares, reflecting mixed insider sentiment in the company's stock.
• Blackstone recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.03, an increase from the previous dividend of $0.93, with a current dividend yield of 2.3%.

Dakota Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 13.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 48,802 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 5,739 shares during the quarter. Dakota Wealth Management's holdings in Blackstone were worth $7,300,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 1248 Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 222 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 acquisition, the director directly owned 38,753 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,599,248.37. The trade was a 0.58% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total value of $3,686,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 453,836 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,814,720.56. This represents a 4.52% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders acquired 3,727,877 shares of company stock worth $95,046,625 and sold 16,871,634 shares worth $135,328,376. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Trading Down 3.6%

NYSE:BX opened at $178.21 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $173.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $152.30. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The firm has a market cap of $131.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.91, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.77.

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. Equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS 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 issued a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Blackstone's payout ratio is presently 110.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped 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. Dbs Bank raised shares of Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upped 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. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $172.38.

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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