Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Sold by Benjamin Edwards Inc.

Benjamin Edwards Inc. trimmed its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 2.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,738 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 104 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $587,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Blackstone by 2.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,262,972 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $8,442,227,000 after purchasing an additional 1,290,324 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 7.5% in 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 buying an additional 2,546,886 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its holdings in Blackstone by 12,192.7% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 7,340,845 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $908,797,000 after acquiring an additional 7,281,128 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in Blackstone by 0.5% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $290,514,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Blackstone from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $134.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on shares of Blackstone in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $134.00 price target on the stock. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $130.78.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX stock opened at $158.15 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $113.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $139.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $129.33. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $88.59 and a one year high of $161.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The asset manager reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 19.35% and a return on equity of 17.43%. Blackstone’s revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.93 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.57 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 29th were paid a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 29th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 115.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.74, for a total transaction of $4,610,900.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 429,386 shares in the company, valued at $56,567,311.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 116,448 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total value of $14,323,104.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 921,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $113,305,632. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 429,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,567,311.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.