Global Assets Advisory LLC Reduces Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Global Assets Advisory LLC decreased its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 53.9% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,695 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 5,497 shares during the quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $717,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Blackstone by 30.7% in the second quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 48,798 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,299,000 after buying an additional 11,461 shares in the last quarter. Kercheville Advisors LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 21.2% in the second quarter. Kercheville Advisors LLC now owns 52,380 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,835,000 after purchasing an additional 9,150 shares during the period. Marietta Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Marietta Wealth Management LLC now owns 57,074 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $8,537,000 after buying an additional 2,079 shares in the last quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 9,760.0% in the 2nd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 493 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $74,000 after acquiring an additional 488 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Simplicity Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $642,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.1%

NYSE:BX opened at $168.40 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $173.81 and a 200 day moving average of $153.83. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $124.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.27, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.77. 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 quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a $1.03 dividend. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 110.75%.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total value of $19,852,970.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 695,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $122,237,547.33. This trade represents a 13.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total value of $8,829,594.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 737,248 shares in the company, valued at approximately $128,015,742.72. This trade represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 3,727,877 shares of company stock valued at $95,046,625 and have sold 16,984,634 shares valued at $155,181,346. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Bank of America dropped their price target on Blackstone from $200.00 to $199.00 in a research note on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Citigroup restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Saturday, July 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $175.53.

Blackstone 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.