Ritholtz Wealth Management Purchases 2,810 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its holdings in Blackstone Inc. by purchasing 2,810 shares, raising their total ownership to 14,791 shares valued at approximately $2.21 million.
• An array of institutional investors have also significantly increased their positions in Blackstone, with Kingstone Capital Partners acquiring an astonishing 519,669.1% increase in shares during the same quarter.
• Blackstone recently raised its quarterly dividend from $0.93 to $1.03 per share, indicating a yield of 2.6%, despite a high dividend payout ratio of 110.75%.

Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 23.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,791 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 2,810 shares during the quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management's holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,212,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BX. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 519,669.1% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 70,132,441 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $10,490,411,000 after acquiring an additional 70,118,948 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Blackstone by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,997,581 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $9,504,702,000 after acquiring an additional 1,102,949 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth approximately $151,524,000. Amundi grew its position in Blackstone by 69.3% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 2,421,502 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $323,000,000 after acquiring an additional 990,947 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Blackstone by 16.3% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,292,320 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $739,761,000 after acquiring an additional 742,829 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on BX. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Blackstone from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Blackstone from $200.00 to $199.00 in a report on Friday, October 3rd. JMP Securities increased their price objective on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Blackstone from $172.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $180.26.

Blackstone Trading Down 3.6%

BX opened at $158.01 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $116.47 billion, a PE ratio of 42.48, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The business has a 50 day moving average of $171.91 and a 200-day moving average of $154.68. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The company had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. Equities research analysts predict 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. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were given a dividend of $1.03 per share. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is 110.75%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total value of $3,686,390.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 453,836 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $77,814,720.56. This trade represents a 4.52% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have purchased 2,538,345 shares of company stock worth $65,046,628 and have sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. Corporate 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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