Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC Acquires 474 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 23.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,538 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 474 shares during the quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $314,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,262,972 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $8,442,227,000 after buying an additional 1,290,324 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 36,285,872 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,766,875,000 after purchasing an additional 2,546,886 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 6,429,749 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $841,783,000 after purchasing an additional 322,860 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $708,859,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Blackstone by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,670,645 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $613,581,000 after acquiring an additional 21,450 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

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

Blackstone Trading Up 2.3 %

BX opened at $146.56 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $88.59 and a 52 week high of $146.98. The company has a market capitalization of $104.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.79, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.51. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $135.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $128.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.93 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 166.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 29th were issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 29th. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.24%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 115.90%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BX. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Blackstone from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Blackstone in a research report on Thursday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $163.00 price target for the company. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.78.

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.