Bard Financial Services Inc. Sells 800 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Bard Financial Services Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 28,075 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 800 shares during the quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $4,199,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. 1248 Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $181.44 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $133.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $170.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $150.49. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 last year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 110.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 222 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $170.29 per share, with a total value of $37,804.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 38,753 shares in the company, valued at $6,599,248.37. This trade represents a 0.58% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO David Payne sold 9,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.97, for a total transaction of $1,597,718.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 54,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,261,325.36. This represents a 14.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 1,189,806 shares of company stock worth $30,046,627 and have sold 16,871,634 shares worth $135,328,376. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on BX. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday, July 25th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $172.38.

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.