XML Financial LLC Grows Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

XML Financial LLC increased its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 8.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,418 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 1,249 shares during the period. XML Financial LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,456,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. 1248 Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter valued at $25,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $175.99 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $174.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $153.26. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.66 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The company has a market capitalization of $129.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.77.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a $1.03 dividend. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 110.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. JMP Securities raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $172.71.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total transaction of $104,478,673.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone bought 2,538,071 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 22nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $25.61 per share, with a total value of $64,999,998.31. Following the transaction, the insider owned 7,506,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $192,234,012.49. This represents a 51.09% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders bought 3,727,877 shares of company stock worth $95,046,625 and sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.