M Holdings Securities Inc. Makes New Investment in Blackstone Inc. $BX

M Holdings Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 4,652 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $536,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC now owns 28,967 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,247,000 after purchasing an additional 361 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 17.5% during the 3rd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 17,873 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,003,000 after buying an additional 2,664 shares in the last quarter. Uhlmann Price Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Uhlmann Price Securities LLC now owns 44,376 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,974,000 after buying an additional 1,146 shares in the last quarter. StoneX Group Inc. lifted its position in Blackstone by 12.6% in the 3rd quarter. StoneX Group Inc. now owns 19,173 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,160,000 after buying an additional 2,140 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 94.5% in the third quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 1,105 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $124,000 after buying an additional 537 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $122.58 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $119.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $123.20. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $101.73 and a 12-month high of $165.14. The firm has a market cap of $92.01 billion, a PE ratio of 27.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 22nd. The asset manager reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.27 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 22.11% and a return on equity of 23.16%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.80 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 2nd were given a dividend of $1.12 per share. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 2nd. This is a negative change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 99.56%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone sold 124,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.40, for a total value of $2,043,440.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.80, for a total value of $12,380,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 771,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $95,523,956.20. This represents a 11.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 3,992,776 shares of company stock worth $25,507,509. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Argus increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $164.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $128.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Thursday, October 22nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Blackstone in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $161.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $144.57.

Blackstone Profile

Blackstone Inc. is a global alternative asset manager that invests on behalf of institutional and individual investors. Its businesses span private equity, real estate, credit and insurance, infrastructure, and multi-asset investing, with strategies that include private funds and investment products for a range of clients. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson, the firm initially focused on mergers and acquisitions advisory work before expanding into investment management.