SJS Investment Consulting Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 80.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 547 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 2,202 shares during the quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc.'s holdings in Blackstone were worth $82,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. MCF Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 22.2% in the second quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 830 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $124,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Eaton Financial Holdings Company LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter valued at $273,000. Financial Partners Group Inc raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 8.4% in the second quarter. Financial Partners Group Inc now owns 4,315 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $645,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. Focused Wealth Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.3% in the second quarter. Focused Wealth Management Inc now owns 49,612 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $7,421,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CGN Advisors LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 7.8% in the second quarter. CGN Advisors LLC now owns 17,687 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,646,000 after acquiring an additional 1,278 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone purchased 1,189,532 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $25.22 per share, for a total transaction of $29,999,997.04. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 4,178,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $105,388,604.62. The trade was a 39.79% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total value of $8,829,594.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 737,248 shares in the company, valued at $128,015,742.72. The trade was a 6.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 3,727,877 shares of company stock valued at $95,046,625 and have sold 16,871,634 shares valued at $135,328,376. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Blackstone Price Performance
Shares of BX stock opened at $185.77 on Tuesday. The stock's fifty day moving average is $173.16 and its 200-day moving average is $151.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $136.93 billion, a PE ratio of 49.94, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.77. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74.
Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Blackstone Increases Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a $1.03 dividend. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 110.75%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of brokerages have weighed in on BX. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Barclays upped their price target on Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. JMP Securities upped their price target on Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $172.38.
Read Our Latest Analysis on BX
Blackstone Company Profile
(
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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Want to see what other hedge funds are holding BX? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report).

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