Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 9.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 56,308 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,974 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $6,971,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BX. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 36.6% in the fourth quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 36,215 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,741,000 after acquiring an additional 9,699 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 367,841 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $48,158,000 after buying an additional 28,856 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in Blackstone by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 254,099 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $33,267,000 after acquiring an additional 20,830 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.8% in the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 431,784 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $53,455,000 after purchasing an additional 7,692 shares during the period. Finally, Norden Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2,072.0% during the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 36,555 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,802,000 after purchasing an additional 34,872 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BX. 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 note on Friday, July 19th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Blackstone in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $163.00 price objective on the stock. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $130.78.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total transaction of $14,323,104.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $113,305,632. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total transaction of $14,323,104.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 921,184 shares in the company, valued at $113,305,632. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now owns 429,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,567,311.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $154.93 on Thursday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $88.59 and a 1-year high of $157.76. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $138.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $128.90. The firm has a market cap of $110.72 billion, a PE ratio of 54.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.03). Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 19.35%. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.93 EPS. Blackstone’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.57 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Investors of record on Monday, July 29th were given a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 29th. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.12%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 115.90%.

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.