Vise Technologies Inc. Buys New Stake in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Vise Technologies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 36,824 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $5,508,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BX. 1248 Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter worth $25,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Family CFO Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new position in Blackstone in the second quarter valued at about $30,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.8%

Blackstone stock opened at $146.00 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $107.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $165.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $157.61. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.75.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business 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 $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 3rd. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 147.43%.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone purchased 2,538,071 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 22nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $25.61 per share, for a total transaction of $64,999,998.31. Following the transaction, the insider owned 7,506,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $192,234,012.49. This represents a 51.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 737,248 shares in the company, valued at $128,015,742.72. This represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 2,565,141 shares of company stock worth $68,991,351 and have sold 16,875,234 shares worth $136,847,628. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Blackstone from $177.00 to $176.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 24th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $195.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, October 24th. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $208.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted 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. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on Blackstone from $180.00 to $171.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 13th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.74.

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.