KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC Boosts Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 275.0% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 19,079 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,991 shares during the period. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,245,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 100,951 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $15,561,000 after buying an additional 8,321 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Private Capital Group LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,340,000. Benson Investment Management Company Inc. acquired a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $5,856,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Blackstone by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,667,695 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,046,859,000 after purchasing an additional 840,258 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 92.2% during the 1st quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 807,184 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $92,817,000 after purchasing an additional 387,109 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on BX. Argus upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $136.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Rothschild & Co Redburn cut their target price on Blackstone from $134.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $147.95.

Blackstone Stock Up 3.1%

BX stock opened at $141.43 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $101.73 and a fifty-two week high of $190.09. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $123.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $122.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $105.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.64, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.55.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $5.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.42 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 21.84% and a return on equity of 23.77%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 35.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were issued a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 115.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.55, for a total transaction of $4,066,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 869,669 shares in the company, valued at approximately $117,883,632.95. The trade was a 3.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone purchased 573,614 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were bought at an average price of $26.15 per share, for a total transaction of $15,000,006.10. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 8,455,758 shares in the company, valued at $221,118,071.70. This represents a 7.28% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders acquired a total of 10,825,520 shares of company stock worth $224,735,908 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.