Sanders Morris Harris LLC Sells 12,345 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Sanders Morris Harris LLC sold 12,345 shares of Blackstone Inc., reducing its stake by 2.3%, but still holds 519,435 shares, accounting for about 18.6% of its holdings.
• Blackstone recently announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $1.03 per share, raising its annualized payout to $4.12, with a yield of 2.6%.
• Brokerage analysts have mixed ratings on Blackstone, with one "Strong Buy," ten "Buy," and nine "Hold" ratings, and a current average price target of $180.26.

Sanders Morris Harris LLC decreased its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 519,435 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 12,345 shares during the period. Blackstone comprises about 18.6% of Sanders Morris Harris LLC's holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Sanders Morris Harris LLC owned about 0.07% of Blackstone worth $77,697,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of BX. 1248 Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Family CFO Inc acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the second quarter valued at $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $160.57 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $118.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.77. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $171.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $155.23. 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 Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. Analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a $1.03 dividend. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. Blackstone's payout ratio is 110.75%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BX. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on Blackstone from $194.00 to $188.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 9th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $215.00 to $208.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Blackstone from $160.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $200.00 to $199.00 in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $180.26.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone bought 2,538,071 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 22nd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $25.61 per share, with a total value of $64,999,998.31. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 7,506,209 shares in the company, valued at $192,234,012.49. The trade was a 51.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total value of $104,478,673.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have bought 2,538,345 shares of company stock worth $65,046,628 and have sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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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