EP Wealth Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 3.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 21,909 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 801 shares during the quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,712,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Blackstone by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,262,972 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $8,442,227,000 after acquiring an additional 1,290,324 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 36,285,872 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,766,875,000 after purchasing an additional 2,546,886 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 12,192.7% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 7,340,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $908,797,000 after purchasing an additional 7,281,128 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.3% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,266,207 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $775,758,000 after acquiring an additional 141,616 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,670,645 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $613,581,000 after purchasing an additional 21,450 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays upped their target price on Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Blackstone from $144.00 to $164.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $163.00 price target on the stock. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $130.78.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total transaction of $4,610,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares in the company, valued at $56,567,311.64. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE:BX opened at $151.88 on Wednesday. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $88.59 and a one year high of $161.25. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $141.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $130.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $108.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.67, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.03). Blackstone had a net margin of 19.35% and a return on equity of 17.43%. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.93 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 29th were paid a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 29th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 115.90%.

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.