RW Investment Management LLC Makes New $947,000 Investment in Blackstone Inc. $BX

RW Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 8,050 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $947,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its holdings in Blackstone by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 100,951 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $15,561,000 after purchasing an additional 8,321 shares during the period. Matrix Private Capital Group LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the first quarter worth about $1,340,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,667,695 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,046,859,000 after acquiring an additional 840,258 shares in the last quarter. Marble Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $7,303,000. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its stake in Blackstone by 92.2% in the first quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 807,184 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $92,817,000 after buying an additional 387,109 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.55, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 3.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 45,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.11, for a total transaction of $6,619,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 516,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $75,911,260.87. This represents a 8.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders acquired 1,339,180 shares of company stock valued at $35,062,433 and sold 7,562,000 shares valued at $40,331,085. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on BX shares. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Blackstone in a research note on Monday, June 8th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. HSBC reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Blackstone to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $147.95.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE BX opened at $143.94 on Monday. Blackstone Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $101.73 and a fifty-two week high of $190.09. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $126.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $122.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market cap of $108.04 billion, a PE ratio of 32.20, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.55.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 21.84% and a return on equity of 23.77%. The company’s revenue was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

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

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.