WESPAC Advisors SoCal LLC Acquires New Shares in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

WESPAC Advisors SoCal LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 5,782 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $808,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BX. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth about $974,448,000. Capital Research Global Investors purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth about $239,837,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 14,608.6% in 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 during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 38.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,990,238 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $515,577,000 after purchasing an additional 835,170 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 61.2% in the fourth quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 1,984,892 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $342,235,000 after purchasing an additional 753,766 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone purchased 1,660,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were bought at an average price of $15.00 per share, for a total transaction of $24,900,000.00. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 1,666,667 shares in the company, valued at $25,000,005. This trade represents a 24,898.76% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.47, for a total value of $3,461,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 475,336 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,819,775.92. The trade was a 5.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders bought a total of 2,849,769 shares of company stock worth $54,932,307 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on BX. Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $168.71.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of BX traded down $0.15 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $177.96. 3,595,256 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,164,950. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.74. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The company has a market cap of $129.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.65. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $149.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $150.68.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be paid a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. This is a positive change from Blackstone's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio is 112.05%.

Blackstone Company 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.