Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. Has $35.01 Million Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 2.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 282,795 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 5,966 shares during the quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $35,010,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 36.6% in the fourth quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 36,215 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,741,000 after acquiring an additional 9,699 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 367,841 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $48,158,000 after purchasing an additional 28,856 shares during the period. Stonegate Investment Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.8% during the first quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 20,165 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,649,000 after acquiring an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Blackstone by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 254,099 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $33,267,000 after buying an additional 20,830 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 431,784 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $53,455,000 after acquiring an additional 7,692 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Blackstone from $144.00 to $164.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on Blackstone in a report on Tuesday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 price target for the company. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $128.94.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Blackstone stock traded down $0.71 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $141.25. The stock had a trading volume of 3,868,526 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,502,403. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $88.59 and a 52-week high of $145.16. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $131.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $126.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The company has a market capitalization of $100.94 billion, a PE ratio of 50.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.50.

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

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 29th were given a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 29th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 115.90%.

Blackstone Company Profile

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.