Blackstone Inc. $BX Position Boosted by Wedmont Private Capital

Wedmont Private Capital boosted its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 82.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,206 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 10,489 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,615,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Hudock Inc. raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Hudock Inc. now owns 22,369 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,632,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Blackstone by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 1,888 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $217,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Blackstone by 1.3% in the first quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,256 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $719,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Heartland Bank & Trust Co boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 2.2% during the first quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co now owns 3,691 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $424,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the period. Finally, Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 3.9% in the first quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. now owns 2,323 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $273,000 after buying an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.5%

BX stock opened at $114.33 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $130.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $124.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.58, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.59. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $101.73 and a fifty-two week high of $166.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $5.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.42 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 21.84% and a return on equity of 23.77%. The firm’s revenue was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.5%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 115.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other news, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone sold 124,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.40, for a total value of $2,043,440.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv L.P. Blackstone bought 272,642 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $26.14 per share, with a total value of $7,126,861.88. Following the purchase, the insider owned 8,704,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,533,512.66. The trade was a 3.23% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders acquired 1,038,406 shares of company stock worth $27,205,951 and sold 4,077,276 shares worth $37,573,644. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $122.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $161.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $133.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Argus increased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $147.32.

Blackstone Company Profile

Blackstone Inc is a global alternative asset management firm that provides investment solutions to institutional investors, companies, financial advisers and individual investors. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson, the company has developed a broad platform spanning private markets and other alternative investments.

Blackstone’s businesses include private equity, real estate, credit and insurance, infrastructure, secondaries and hedge fund solutions. Its investment activities may involve acquiring and managing companies, commercial and residential properties, infrastructure assets, private credit and other investments on behalf of its clients.

The firm serves clients and invests across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and other international markets.