Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Bought by Focused Wealth Management Inc

Focused Wealth Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.3% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 49,612 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the period. Blackstone accounts for about 0.9% of Focused Wealth Management Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Focused Wealth Management Inc’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $7,421,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in Blackstone by 105.4% during the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 13,405 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,874,000 after purchasing an additional 6,878 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 31,212 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,363,000 after buying an additional 1,943 shares during the last quarter. Comprehensive Money Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth about $1,747,000. Kera Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 2nd quarter valued at about $273,000. Finally, Sandy Cove Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 22.1% in the second quarter. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC now owns 12,042 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,801,000 after purchasing an additional 2,182 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone bought 2,538,071 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 22nd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $25.61 per share, for a total transaction of $64,999,998.31. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 7,506,209 shares in the company, valued at $192,234,012.49. This represents a 51.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.36, for a total value of $16,736,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 808,757 shares in the company, valued at $135,353,571.52. This trade represents a 11.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have acquired 3,727,877 shares of company stock worth $95,046,625 and have sold 16,871,634 shares worth $135,328,376. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX stock opened at $185.77 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $136.93 billion, a PE ratio of 49.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $173.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $151.89. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $172.38.

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.