Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Acquired by Wedbush Securities Inc.

Wedbush Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 9.5% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 25,962 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,245 shares during the period. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $3,883,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Arcus Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 1.2% in the second quarter. Arcus Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,937 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $739,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,213 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $331,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 1,784 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $267,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC increased its holdings in Blackstone by 0.8% in the second quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 8,036 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,202,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WNY Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 1.7% in the second quarter. WNY Asset Management LLC now owns 3,852 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $576,000 after buying an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Blackstone from $173.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $195.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, October 24th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $177.00 to $176.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.74.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total transaction of $19,852,970.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 695,757 shares in the company, valued at approximately $122,237,547.33. This trade represents a 13.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director James Breyer purchased 13,900 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $143.86 per share, for a total transaction of $1,999,654.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 68,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,912,817.16. This represents a 25.27% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have acquired 2,565,415 shares of company stock valued at $69,037,981 and have sold 16,875,234 shares valued at $136,847,628. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of BX stock opened at $146.00 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The business’s 50 day moving average is $165.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $157.17. The company has a market capitalization of $107.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.76.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.56% and a return on equity of 22.30%. Equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 3rd will be issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 3rd. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 147.43%.

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.