Marietta Wealth Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Marietta Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 3.8%, acquiring a total of 57,074 shares worth approximately $8.5 million.
• Several analysts have raised their target prices for Blackstone, with Evercore ISI setting the highest target at $197, reflecting a strong positive outlook on the company's performance.
• Blackstone recently raised its quarterly dividend to $1.03, an increase from the previous $0.93, representing an annualized yield of 2.4%.

Marietta Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 3.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 57,074 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 2,079 shares during the period. Marietta Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $8,537,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its position in Blackstone by 105.4% during the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 13,405 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,874,000 after purchasing an additional 6,878 shares in the last quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter worth about $273,000. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC increased its holdings 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 worth $1,801,000 after buying an additional 2,182 shares during the period. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 1,863 shares during the period. Finally, Narwhal Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 34.3% in the first 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Barclays raised their target price on Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Blackstone in a research note on Friday. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $190.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Dbs Bank raised Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $175.53.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX stock opened at $168.40 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $173.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $153.80. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.66 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $124.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.27, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.77. 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 earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 110.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total value of $104,478,673.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 737,248 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $128,015,742.72. The trade was a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders bought 3,727,877 shares of company stock worth $95,046,625 and sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. 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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