Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC Purchases Shares of 15,899 Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Focus Partners Advisor Solutions acquired 15,899 Blackstone shares worth approximately $1.87 million during the second quarter. Institutional investors own about 70% of the company.
• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus on Blackstone, with 13 Buy ratings and 11 Holds and an average price target of $147.95.
• Blackstone exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, reporting $1.52 in EPS and $5.04 billion in revenue, while increasing its quarterly dividend to $1.29 per share, a 3.6% yield.

Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 15,899 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $1,871,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 100,951 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $15,561,000 after acquiring an additional 8,321 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Private Capital Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,340,000. Benson Investment Management Company Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at about $5,856,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,667,695 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $11,046,859,000 after purchasing an additional 840,258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its stake in Blackstone by 92.2% during the first quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 807,184 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $92,817,000 after buying an additional 387,109 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, June 8th. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Blackstone to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $139.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $114.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $147.95.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.11, for a total value of $6,619,950.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 516,017 shares in the company, valued at $75,911,260.87. This trade represents a 8.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.55, for a total transaction of $4,066,500.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 869,669 shares of the company's stock, valued at $117,883,632.95. This represents a 3.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 1,339,180 shares of company stock valued at $35,062,433 and have sold 7,562,000 shares valued at $40,331,085. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 3.6%

NYSE BX opened at $143.94 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $101.73 and a 52 week high of $190.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $108.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.20, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a fifty day moving average of $126.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $122.70.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.18. Blackstone had a net margin of 21.84% and a return on equity of 23.77%. The business had revenue of $5.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 6 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were given a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 115.44%.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc NYSE: BX is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone's business is organized around several principal investment platforms.

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