NewEdge Wealth LLC Has $76.22 Million Stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Key Points

• NewEdge Wealth LLC reduced its holdings in Blackstone Inc. by 15.4%, owning 545,261 shares after selling 99,424 shares in the first quarter, making Blackstone its 9th largest position.
• Blackstone has announced a quarterly dividend increase from $0.93 to $1.03 per share, representing an annualized yield of 2.4%.
• Insider trading activity includes John G. Finley selling 25,000 shares and the major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. purchasing over 1.1 million shares, which indicates significant movements in ownership.

NewEdge Wealth LLC trimmed its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 15.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 545,261 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 99,424 shares during the quarter. Blackstone makes up approximately 1.4% of NewEdge Wealth LLC's holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. NewEdge Wealth LLC owned 0.07% of Blackstone worth $76,217,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ascent Group LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 8,522 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,469,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 4,013 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $697,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,819 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,652,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,466 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,460,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. Finally, Nicolet Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.7% in the first quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,075 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,539,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of BX traded down $1.72 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $167.63. The company had a trading volume of 1,379,395 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,257,625. The stock has a market cap of $122.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.71. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $154.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $150.68. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 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 business had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be paid a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 110.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.36, for a total value of $16,736,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 808,757 shares in the company, valued at $135,353,571.52. The trade was a 11.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone purchased 1,189,532 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $25.22 per share, for a total transaction of $29,999,997.04. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 4,178,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at $105,388,604.62. This trade represents a 39.79% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BX. 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 note on Friday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $170.12.

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.