Apella Capital LLC Buys 105 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Apella Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,383 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 105 shares during the quarter. Apella Capital LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,276,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the first quarter valued at about $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was 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 approximately $56,567,311.64. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other 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 value of $4,610,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 429,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,567,311.64. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total transaction of $17,561,522.88. Following the sale, the director now owns 799,749 shares in the company, valued at $120,610,146.69. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX stock traded up $0.72 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $151.92. 2,073,752 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,449,274. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $142.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $131.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $108.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.69, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.51. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $88.59 and a 52 week high of $161.25.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 19.35%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.93 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Blackstone from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.17.

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.