NewEdge Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in Blackstone Inc. $BX

NewEdge Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 14.9% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 90,619 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 15,863 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $10,420,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Family CFO Inc bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Ares Financial Consulting LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Strive Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Palladiem LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 7,477,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.78, for a total value of $28,264,950.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 19,374 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,233.72. This trade represents a 99.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone bought 765,111 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated 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 purchase, the insider directly owned 7,882,145 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $206,039,270.30. This trade represents a 10.75% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have acquired 10,825,520 shares of company stock valued at $224,735,908 in the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on BX. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. BNP Paribas Exane dropped their price objective on Blackstone from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Blackstone from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Zacks Research upgraded Blackstone from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Finally, HSBC reissued a “hold” rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a report on Monday, July 20th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $147.95.

Blackstone Stock Down 0.2%

BX opened at $136.86 on Monday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $123.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $122.76. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $101.73 and a 52 week high of $190.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market cap of $101.67 billion, a PE ratio of 30.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.55.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd will be issued a $1.29 dividend. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 3rd. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 115.44%.

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.