Thomas Story & Son LLC Reduces Stake in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Thomas Story & Son LLC lessened its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 6.8% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 24,533 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,795 shares during the quarter. Blackstone comprises 1.4% of Thomas Story & Son LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Thomas Story & Son LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $3,670,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in BX. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 519,669.1% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 70,132,441 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,490,411,000 after purchasing an additional 70,118,948 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Blackstone by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,997,581 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,504,702,000 after buying an additional 1,102,949 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,542,863 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,462,706,000 after acquiring an additional 227,416 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 16.3% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,292,320 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $739,761,000 after purchasing an additional 742,829 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in Blackstone by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 4,291,546 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $599,872,000 after purchasing an additional 182,526 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.4%

NYSE BX opened at $141.46 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $163.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $157.77. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $200.96. The company has a market capitalization of $104.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.76. 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 released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. As a group, equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were given a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 3rd. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 147.43%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Blackstone from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $195.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Blackstone from $173.00 to $168.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Blackstone from $177.00 to $176.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 324 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 10th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $146.92 per share, for a total transaction of $47,602.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 39,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,741,192.84. The trade was a 0.84% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone bought 2,538,071 shares of the 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 acquisition, the insider directly owned 7,506,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $192,234,012.49. The trade was a 51.09% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders purchased 2,565,543 shares of company stock worth $69,050,139. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.