Drive Wealth Management LLC Takes $252,000 Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Drive Wealth Management LLC has acquired a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE: BX) worth approximately $252,000, purchasing 1,682 shares during the second quarter.
• Blackstone recently reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.97 and announced a dividend increase to $1.03 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 2.6%.
• Insider trading activity showed that director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares for nearly $19.9 million, reflecting a 13.97% decrease in his ownership position.

Drive Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 1,682 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $252,000.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. 1248 Management LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Family CFO Inc acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $160.57 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $118.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.77. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $171.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $155.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. This is a positive change 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 is currently 110.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total transaction of $19,852,970.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 695,757 shares in the company, valued at approximately $122,237,547.33. This represents a 13.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders acquired 2,538,345 shares of company stock worth $65,046,628 and sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the topic of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Blackstone in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $190.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America cut their price objective on Blackstone from $200.00 to $199.00 in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $194.00 to $188.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. HSBC boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $179.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $160.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $180.26.

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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