Sonora Investment Management Group LLC Boosts Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Sonora Investment Management Group LLC increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 5.0%, now holding 149,076 shares worth approximately $22.3 million.
• Blackstone recently reported $1.21 earnings per share, exceeding the consensus estimate of $1.10, with revenue up 32.7% year-over-year, totaling $3.07 billion.
• The company announced a higher quarterly dividend of $1.03 per share, up from the previous $0.93, reflecting a commitment to returning value to shareholders.

Sonora Investment Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 5.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 149,076 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 7,073 shares during the quarter. Blackstone accounts for about 1.7% of Sonora Investment Management Group LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Sonora Investment Management Group LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $22,299,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,365,000 after buying an additional 2,035 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 1,713 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $239,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Blackstone by 14,608.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,322,598 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $184,873,000 after purchasing an additional 1,313,606 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 6.6% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 31,212 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $4,363,000 after purchasing an additional 1,943 shares during the period. Finally, BTC Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 9.1% during the 1st quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,505 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $210,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE BX opened at $175.40 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $129.29 billion, a PE ratio of 47.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.77. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $174.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $152.90. 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 (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. Blackstone's revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company 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 of this dividend 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 2.3%. Blackstone's payout ratio is presently 110.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone bought 2,538,071 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Monday, September 22nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $25.61 per share, for a total transaction of $64,999,998.31. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 7,506,209 shares in the company, valued at $192,234,012.49. This represents a 51.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 737,248 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $128,015,742.72. This trade represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders acquired 3,727,877 shares of company stock worth $95,046,625 and sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Saturday, July 19th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note 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. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $172.38.

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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