Securian Asset Management Inc. Lowers Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Securian Asset Management Inc. cut its holdings in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 38,056 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 700 shares during the period. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $5,692,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Arcus Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Arcus Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,937 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $739,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,213 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $331,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 8,036 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,202,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Jeppson Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Jeppson Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,549 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $980,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Finally, McAdam LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 1,762 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $246,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $160.57 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $171.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $155.23. The company has a market capitalization of $118.36 billion, a PE ratio of 43.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 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 Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The company had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter. As a group, analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were given a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 110.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total transaction of $104,478,673.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider owned 453,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $77,814,720.56. This trade represents a 4.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have purchased 2,538,345 shares of company stock worth $65,046,628 and have sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on BX shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. HSBC upped their price objective on Blackstone from $170.00 to $179.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Dbs Bank raised Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane boosted their target price on Blackstone from $166.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $180.26.

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.