Merit Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 30.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 48,798 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 11,461 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $7,299,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kercheville Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 21.2% in the second quarter. Kercheville Advisors LLC now owns 52,380 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $7,835,000 after acquiring an additional 9,150 shares in the last quarter. Marietta Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 3.8% during the second quarter. Marietta Wealth Management LLC now owns 57,074 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $8,537,000 after buying an additional 2,079 shares during the period. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 9,760.0% in the second quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 493 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $74,000 after buying an additional 488 shares during the period. Simplicity Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $642,000. Finally, Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,052 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,204,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.
Blackstone Stock Performance
BX stock opened at $168.40 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $124.12 billion, a PE ratio of 45.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.77. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $173.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $153.83. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.
Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Blackstone Increases Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were issued 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 dividend yield of 2.4%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is presently 110.75%.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of research firms have issued reports on BX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $172.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price target on Blackstone from $166.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, JMP Securities raised their price objective on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $175.53.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on Blackstone
Insider Buying and Selling
In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total transaction of $104,478,673.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total value of $19,852,970.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 695,757 shares in the company, valued at approximately $122,237,547.33. This represents a 13.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have bought 3,727,877 shares of company stock valued at $95,046,625 and have sold 16,984,634 shares valued at $155,181,346. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.
Blackstone Profile
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Free Report)
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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