Farther Finance Advisors LLC Increases Stake in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 142.8%, owning 39,152 shares valued at approximately $5.86 million at the end of the last quarter.
• Blackstone recently raised its quarterly dividend to $1.03 per share, resulting in a 2.2% dividend yield, up from the previous dividend of $0.93.
• Analysts rate Blackstone's stock as a Moderate Buy, with a consensus price target of $172.38, following positive earnings and revenue growth in the latest quarter.

Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 142.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 39,152 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 23,029 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $5,856,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Busey Bank grew its holdings in Blackstone by 25.2% in the second quarter. Busey Bank now owns 5,126 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $767,000 after purchasing an additional 1,032 shares during the period. CX Institutional raised its position in Blackstone by 15.4% in the 2nd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 3,799 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $568,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 465.6% in the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 60,556 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $9,058,000 after acquiring an additional 49,850 shares during the period. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. boosted its stake in Blackstone by 50.0% during the second quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 600 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $90,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bridge Creek Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.7% during the second quarter. Bridge Creek Capital Management LLC now owns 56,845 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $8,503,000 after buying an additional 967 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on BX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Dbs Bank raised shares of Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $172.38.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock traded down $0.69 on Friday, reaching $187.99. 7,403,015 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,352,768. The firm's 50 day moving average is $172.71 and its 200-day moving average is $151.61. The firm has a market cap of $138.57 billion, a PE ratio of 50.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.77. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year 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.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS 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 is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Blackstone's payout ratio is currently 110.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, CAO David Payne sold 9,400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.97, for a total value of $1,597,718.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 54,488 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,261,325.36. This trade represents a 14.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total value of $8,829,594.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 737,248 shares in the company, valued at approximately $128,015,742.72. This trade represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have bought 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627 and have sold 16,871,634 shares worth $135,328,376. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.