Eaton Financial Holdings Company LLC Makes New Investment in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Eaton Financial Holdings Company LLC has invested approximately $273,000 in 1,827 shares of Blackstone Inc. during the second quarter.
• Blackstone recently reported earnings of $1.21 per share, exceeding estimates, and has announced a dividend increase to $1.03 per share, up from $0.93.
• Insider trading activity showed significant movement, with a major shareholder purchasing over 2.5 million shares, while another sold nearly 16.7 million shares in recent months.

Eaton Financial Holdings Company LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 1,827 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $273,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 34.6% in 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 during the period. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Ascent Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 8,522 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,469,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. American Trust purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth about $217,000. Finally, Liberty Square Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at about $233,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of BX opened at $185.77 on Tuesday. 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. The company has a market capitalization of $136.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.77. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $173.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $151.89.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were given a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is presently 110.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Dbs Bank raised shares of Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. JMP Securities raised their target price on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $172.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone purchased 2,538,071 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 22nd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $25.61 per share, for a total transaction of $64,999,998.31. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 7,506,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $192,234,012.49. This represents a 51.09% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated 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. Over the last three months, insiders purchased 3,727,877 shares of company stock valued at $95,046,625 and sold 16,871,634 shares valued at $135,328,376. 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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