Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Has $87.43 Million Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 14.9% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 760,325 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 98,677 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $87,430,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. J. L. Bainbridge & Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 74.2% in the first quarter. J. L. Bainbridge & Co. Inc. now owns 313,105 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $36,004,000 after acquiring an additional 133,383 shares during the last quarter. Caldwell Trust Co boosted its position in Blackstone by 2.2% during the first quarter. Caldwell Trust Co now owns 49,932 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,742,000 after purchasing an additional 1,077 shares during the last quarter. Nicholas Wealth LLC. increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 22.4% during the 1st quarter. Nicholas Wealth LLC. now owns 7,881 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $906,000 after purchasing an additional 1,442 shares during the last quarter. Citrine Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth approximately $274,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Services grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 7.1% in the first quarter. MFA Wealth Services now owns 4,292 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $494,000 after buying an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Blackstone from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Blackstone from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Blackstone from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Blackstone in a research note on Monday, June 8th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $150.86.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.3%

Blackstone stock opened at $115.66 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $101.73 and a twelve month high of $190.09. The stock has a market cap of $85.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.59. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $120.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $129.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

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

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th were given a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 118.67%.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,014 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.79, for a total value of $3,775,461.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 899,669 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $113,169,363.51. The trade was a 3.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone purchased 765,111 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $26.14 per share, for a total transaction of $20,000,001.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 7,882,145 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $206,039,270.30. This trade represents a 10.75% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 10,252,345 shares of company stock valued at $209,789,893. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.