Stiles Financial Services Inc Acquires 1,615 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Stiles Financial Services Inc increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 11.4%, acquiring an additional 1,615 shares, bringing its total holdings to 15,804 shares valued at approximately $2.36 million.
• Recent insider trading shows that a major shareholder acquired over 1.18 million shares of Blackstone, resulting in a 39.79% increase in their position, while a director sold 113,000 shares at a significant profit.
• Blackstone recently raised its quarterly dividend from $0.93 to $1.03 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 2.6% and a dividend payout ratio of 110.75%.

Stiles Financial Services Inc raised its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 11.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,804 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 1,615 shares during the period. Stiles Financial Services Inc's holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,363,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 519,669.1% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 70,132,441 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $10,490,411,000 after purchasing an additional 70,118,948 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,997,581 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $9,504,702,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102,949 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter valued at about $151,524,000. Amundi lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 69.3% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 2,421,502 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $323,000,000 after purchasing an additional 990,947 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 16.3% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,292,320 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $739,761,000 after purchasing an additional 742,829 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on BX shares. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $190.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Blackstone from $200.00 to $199.00 in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. JMP Securities lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Blackstone from $215.00 to $208.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $179.00.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone acquired 1,189,532 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $25.22 per share, with a total value of $29,999,997.04. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider 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 purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total transaction of $19,852,970.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 695,757 shares in the company, valued at $122,237,547.33. The trade was a 13.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have bought 3,727,877 shares of company stock valued at $95,046,625 and have sold 16,984,634 shares valued at $155,181,346. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $160.52 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $172.86 and a 200 day moving average of $154.15. The stock has a market cap of $118.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.77. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. Blackstone's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

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

About Blackstone

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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