Personal CFO Solutions LLC Purchases 152 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Personal CFO Solutions LLC lifted its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 6.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,639 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the period. Personal CFO Solutions LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $245,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in Blackstone by 3.8% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 40,375,831 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,546,613,000 after acquiring an additional 1,480,848 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 22,495,670 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,668,954,000 after purchasing an additional 798,734 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.1% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,157,334 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,419,249,000 after purchasing an additional 332,962 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 6.4% in the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,081,117 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,216,151,000 after purchasing an additional 790,231 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 7.1% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,925,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $695,952,000 after purchasing an additional 522,561 shares in the last quarter. 63.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, Director Reginald J. Brown acquired 1,842 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 21st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $111.24 per share, with a total value of $204,904.08. Following the transaction, the director now owns 14,549 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,618,430.76. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 29,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.39, for a total transaction of $2,762,461.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 424,863 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,253,092.57. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Reginald J. Brown bought 1,842 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 21st. The shares were bought at an average price of $111.24 per share, for a total transaction of $204,904.08. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 14,549 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,618,430.76. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 108,339 shares of company stock valued at $11,200,486. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $106.45 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $103.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $98.04. The company has a market cap of $75.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.73, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $71.72 and a 12-month high of $116.78.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 19th. The asset manager reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.60 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 16.76% and a net margin of 21.29%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 140.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.06 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 3.9 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 6th. Investors of record on Monday, October 30th were given a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.01%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.79. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 27th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 134.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $107.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 20th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $110.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 10th. HSBC began coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, October 6th. They set a “hold” rating and a $113.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $114.00 to $121.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $110.22.

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.