Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Sold by Vishria Bird Financial Group LLC

Vishria Bird Financial Group LLC cut its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.9% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 48,793 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 420 shares during the period. Blackstone accounts for approximately 2.4% of Vishria Bird Financial Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Vishria Bird Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $7,299,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. 1248 Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Citigroup restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Saturday, July 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $172.38.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $181.44 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96. The company has a market cap of $133.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $170.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $150.53.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 110.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total value of $104,478,673.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total value of $3,686,390.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 453,836 shares in the company, valued at $77,814,720.56. This represents a 4.52% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have bought 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627 and have sold 16,871,634 shares worth $135,328,376. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.