Mariner LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Mariner LLC grew its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 466,173 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,369 shares during the period. Mariner LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $71,856,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Redwood Financial Network Corp lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.8% during the second quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 3,588 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $537,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,748 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,194,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC now owns 10,935 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,686,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Trivium Point Advisory LLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Trivium Point Advisory LLC now owns 2,713 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $418,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zacks Investment Management grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.1% during the third quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 3,453 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $590,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,014 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.79, for a total transaction of $3,775,461.06. Following the transaction, the insider owned 899,669 shares in the company, valued at approximately $113,169,363.51. The trade was a 3.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Treasury Holdings I. Blackstone bought 9,486,795 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $20.00 per share, for a total transaction of $189,735,900.00. Following the purchase, the insider owned 9,111,800 shares in the company, valued at $182,236,000. This represents a -2,529.85% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders bought 12,355,303 shares of company stock worth $264,789,896. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.5%

NYSE:BX opened at $124.59 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $101.73 and a 12 month high of $190.09. The company has a market cap of $92.55 billion, a PE ratio of 31.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $120.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $130.82.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.02. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.67% and a return on equity of 22.86%. The business had revenue of $3.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.11 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 4th were given a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. This represents a $4.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 118.67%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Blackstone from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $154.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $126.00 to $124.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, June 8th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $150.86.

Blackstone Company Profile

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.