HCR Wealth Advisors Buys 1,502 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• HCR Wealth Advisors increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 33.9%, acquiring an additional 1,502 shares, bringing its total holdings to 5,931 shares valued at approximately $887,000.
• Blackstone's quarterly revenue was up 32.7% year-over-year, with the asset manager reporting an EPS of $1.21, surpassing analyst expectations by $0.11.
• The firm announced an increase in its dividend, with a recent payout of $1.03 per share, up from $0.93, reflecting a current annualized yield of 2.3%.

HCR Wealth Advisors lifted its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 33.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,931 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 1,502 shares during the quarter. HCR Wealth Advisors' holdings in Blackstone were worth $887,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 105.4% in the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 13,405 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,874,000 after acquiring an additional 6,878 shares in the last quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter worth $273,000. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 22.1% in the second quarter. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC now owns 12,042 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,801,000 after buying an additional 2,182 shares in the last quarter. Narwhal Capital Management lifted its position in Blackstone by 34.3% during the 1st quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 64,614 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $9,032,000 after buying an additional 16,486 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 14.5% in the first quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 14,708 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,056,000 after acquiring an additional 1,863 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BX. Citigroup reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Saturday, July 19th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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 raised their price target on Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $172.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total transaction of $8,829,594.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 737,248 shares in the company, valued at $128,015,742.72. The trade was a 6.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone purchased 2,538,071 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 22nd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $25.61 per share, for a total transaction of $64,999,998.31. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 7,506,209 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $192,234,012.49. This represents a 51.09% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 3,727,877 shares of company stock worth $95,046,625 and have sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.4%

Blackstone stock opened at $175.99 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $129.72 billion, a PE ratio of 47.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.77. The company's 50-day moving average is $174.28 and its 200-day moving average is $153.26. 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 (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. The business 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%. Blackstone's quarterly revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current 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 paid 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 2.3%. Blackstone's payout ratio is presently 110.75%.

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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