Divergent Planning LLC Invests $3.21 Million in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Divergent Planning LLC made a significant investment of approximately $3.21 million in Blackstone Inc., acquiring 21,447 shares in the second quarter.
• Blackstone recently increased its quarterly dividend to $1.03 per share, a rise from its previous dividend of $0.93, representing an annualized yield of 2.6%.
• Analysts have maintained a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" on Blackstone's stock, with an average target price of $180.26.

Divergent Planning LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 21,447 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $3,208,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Syntegra Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Syntegra Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 45,626 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $6,825,000 after purchasing an additional 884 shares in the last quarter. VCI Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 16.5% in the second quarter. VCI Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,700 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,451,000 after acquiring an additional 1,375 shares in the last quarter. WESPAC Advisors SoCal LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 34.8% during the second quarter. WESPAC Advisors SoCal LLC now owns 7,792 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,166,000 after acquiring an additional 2,010 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its stake in Blackstone by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 180,044 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $27,476,000 after purchasing an additional 9,249 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Drive Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $252,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Blackstone from $160.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their target price on Blackstone from $166.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $180.26.

Blackstone Trading Up 2.7%

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $160.57 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74. The company has a market cap of $118.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.77. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $171.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $155.23.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. 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 yield of 2.6%. Blackstone's payout ratio is 110.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total value of $104,478,673.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of the business'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 sale, the insider owned 453,836 shares of the company's stock, valued at $77,814,720.56. The trade was a 4.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have bought 2,538,345 shares of company stock valued at $65,046,628 and have sold 16,984,634 shares valued at $155,181,346. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

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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