Udine Wealth Management Inc. Buys Shares of 15,259 Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Udine Wealth Management Inc. purchased 15,259 shares of Blackstone Inc. for approximately $2.28 million, making Blackstone 1.3% of its total holdings.
• Several hedge funds significantly increased their stakes in Blackstone, including Kingstone Capital, which raised its position by 519,669.1% to hold over 70 million shares.
• Blackstone recently raised its quarterly dividend from $0.93 to $1.03 per share, resulting in a 2.7% yield for investors.

Udine Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 15,259 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $2,282,000. Blackstone comprises 1.3% of Udine Wealth Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its stake 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. raised its stake 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 stake in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter valued at about $151,524,000. Amundi raised its stake 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. raised its stake 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 currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BX. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $181.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Blackstone from $207.00 to $199.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Blackstone from $215.00 to $208.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Blackstone in a report on Friday, October 3rd. They set an "outperform" rating and a $190.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $179.00.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

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

Blackstone Price Performance

NYSE BX opened at $153.88 on Friday. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $172.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $154.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The company has a market cap of $113.42 billion, a PE ratio of 41.37, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.77. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%. On average, analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a dividend of $1.03 per share. This is a boost from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 110.75%.

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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