Venture Visionary Partners LLC Boosts Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Key Points

• Venture Visionary Partners LLC increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. by 9.5% in the second quarter, acquiring a total of 42,146 shares valued at approximately $6.3 million.
• Multiple hedge funds have also raised their positions in Blackstone, with NBC Securities Inc. showing a notable increase of 132,333.3% in their holdings during the first quarter.
• Blackstone recently announced a quarterly dividend increase to $1.03 per share, up from the previous $0.93, reflecting a dividend yield of 2.3%.

Venture Visionary Partners LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 9.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 42,146 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 3,659 shares during the period. Venture Visionary Partners LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $6,304,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BX. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 34.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,365,000 after purchasing an additional 2,035 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,459 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,182,000 after purchasing an additional 313 shares during the last quarter. Enterprise Bank & Trust Co grew its position in Blackstone by 16.1% during the 1st quarter. Enterprise Bank & Trust Co now owns 6,340 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $886,000 after purchasing an additional 877 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. grew its position in Blackstone by 132,333.3% during the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 3,973 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $555,000 after purchasing an additional 3,970 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sweeney & Michel LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth $939,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on BX shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $166.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $172.71.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone bought 2,538,071 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 22nd. The stock was bought at an average price of $25.61 per share, for a total transaction of $64,999,998.31. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 7,506,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $192,234,012.49. The trade was a 51.09% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have acquired 3,727,877 shares of company stock valued at $95,046,625 and have sold 16,984,634 shares valued at $155,181,346. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $175.99 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $129.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.77. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $174.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $153.26. 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This is an increase from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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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