Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Acquired by LVW Advisors LLC

LVW Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 50.5% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,788 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 936 shares during the quarter. LVW Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $345,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,262,972 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $8,442,227,000 after acquiring an additional 1,290,324 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Blackstone by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 36,285,872 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,766,875,000 after buying an additional 2,546,886 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in Blackstone by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 6,429,749 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $841,783,000 after acquiring an additional 322,860 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at about $708,859,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 0.5% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,670,645 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $613,581,000 after purchasing an additional 21,450 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total value of $14,323,104.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 921,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $113,305,632. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total value of $14,323,104.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 921,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $113,305,632. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total value of $4,610,900.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 429,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,567,311.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock traded up $2.65 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $131.93. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 458,848 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,520,654. The firm has a market cap of $94.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.50. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $128.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $126.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.77. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $88.59 and a one year high of $145.16.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.03). Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 19.35%. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.93 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 29th were given a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 29th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 115.90%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on BX shares. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $144.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Argus lifted their price target on Blackstone from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Blackstone from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Blackstone from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $127.56.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc is an alternative asset management firm specializing in real estate, private equity, hedge fund solutions, credit, secondary funds of funds, public debt and equity and multi-asset class strategies. The firm typically invests in early-stage companies. It also provide capital markets services.