Segment Wealth Management LLC Has $1.97 Million Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Segment Wealth Management LLC reduced its holdings in Blackstone Inc. by 86.3% in the second quarter, now owning 13,172 shares valued at approximately $1.97 million.
• Blackstone recently reported a quarterly EPS of $1.21, exceeding analysts' expectations, with a revenue increase of 32.7% year-over-year.
• The company has raised its quarterly dividend to $1.03, up from $0.93, reflecting a dividend yield of 2.4% and a payout ratio of 110.75%.

Segment Wealth Management LLC lessened its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 86.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,172 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 82,747 shares during the period. Segment Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,970,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Ascent Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.4% in the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 12,708 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,901,000 after buying an additional 298 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 4.0% in the second quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 7,543 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,128,000 after buying an additional 290 shares during the period. Family CFO Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter worth $28,000. River Street Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 5.5% during the second quarter. River Street Advisors LLC now owns 16,784 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,511,000 after acquiring an additional 876 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Abacus Planning Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter worth $202,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.1%

Blackstone stock opened at $168.40 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $173.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $153.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $124.12 billion, a PE ratio of 45.27, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.77. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. 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. Citigroup reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Saturday, July 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $176.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider directly owned 737,248 shares of the company's stock, valued at $128,015,742.72. This trade represents a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total value of $19,852,970.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 695,757 shares in the company, valued at approximately $122,237,547.33. This trade represents a 13.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders acquired 3,727,877 shares of company stock valued at $95,046,625 and sold 16,984,634 shares valued at $155,181,346. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Company 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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