Westshore Wealth LLC Sells 113 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Westshore Wealth LLC lessened its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,734 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 113 shares during the period. Westshore Wealth LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $409,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Blackstone by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,997,581 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $9,504,702,000 after acquiring an additional 1,102,949 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 16.3% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,292,320 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $739,761,000 after purchasing an additional 742,829 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 4,291,546 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $599,872,000 after purchasing an additional 182,526 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,162,867 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $581,886,000 after purchasing an additional 117,724 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 19.8% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,109,020 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $708,477,000 after purchasing an additional 678,111 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of BX stock opened at $183.77 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $171.20 and a 200-day moving average of $150.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The company has a market capitalization of $135.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.77.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were given a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 110.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on BX. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $172.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total value of $104,478,673.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total transaction of $3,686,390.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 453,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,814,720.56. This trade represents a 4.52% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have purchased 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 and have sold 16,871,634 shares valued at $135,328,376. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone 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.