Guinness Asset Management LTD Has $641,000 Stock Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Guinness Asset Management LTD trimmed its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 6.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,588 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 299 shares during the quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $641,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 1248 Management LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackstone Stock Up 3.2%

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $183.91 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $135.56 billion, a PE ratio of 49.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.77. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.66 and a 12-month high of $200.96. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $169.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $150.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. Blackstone’s revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 110.75%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total transaction of $3,686,390.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 453,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $77,814,720.56. This trade represents a 4.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total transaction of $104,478,673.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders purchased 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 and sold 16,871,634 shares valued at $135,328,376. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on BX. JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Dbs Bank raised shares of Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $153.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $172.38.

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.