WealthPLAN Partners LLC Sells 3,560 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

WealthPLAN Partners LLC cut its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 17.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,451 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 3,560 shares during the period. WealthPLAN Partners LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,461,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 105.4% in the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 13,405 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,874,000 after buying an additional 6,878 shares in the last quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter valued at $273,000. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 22.1% in the 2nd quarter. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC now owns 12,042 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,801,000 after buying an additional 2,182 shares in the last quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth about $423,000. Finally, Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 14.5% during the 1st quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 14,708 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,056,000 after purchasing an additional 1,863 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.0%

Blackstone stock opened at $163.92 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.66 and a fifty-two week high of $200.96. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $172.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $154.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $120.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.07, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.77.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate 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 issued a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 110.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total transaction of $8,829,594.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 737,248 shares in the company, valued at approximately $128,015,742.72. The trade was a 6.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone bought 2,538,071 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 22nd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $25.61 per share, for a total transaction of $64,999,998.31. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 7,506,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $192,234,012.49. The trade was a 51.09% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders acquired 3,727,877 shares of company stock valued at $95,046,625 and sold 16,984,634 shares valued at $155,181,346. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $181.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $166.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $171.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Blackstone from $207.00 to $199.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $180.33.

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.