Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Acquired by Bay Rivers Group

Bay Rivers Group lifted its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 4.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,631 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 735 shares during the period. Blackstone comprises 1.3% of Bay Rivers Group’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Bay Rivers Group’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,787,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BX. Ascent Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 8,522 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,469,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. McAdam LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 4.4% in the first quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 1,762 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $246,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Angeles Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.6% in the first quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,819 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,652,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. Park National Corp OH boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 3.4% in the second quarter. Park National Corp OH now owns 2,334 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $349,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. Finally, Nicolet Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 0.7% in the first quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,075 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,539,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total transaction of $3,686,390.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 453,836 shares in the company, valued at $77,814,720.56. This trade represents a 4.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total value of $104,478,673.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 1,189,806 shares of company stock valued at $30,046,627 and have sold 16,871,634 shares valued at $135,328,376. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Trading Up 1.4%

NYSE:BX opened at $183.83 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $170.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $150.65. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The company has a market capitalization of $135.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. Blackstone had a return on equity of 20.47% and a net margin of 20.83%.The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a $1.03 dividend. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 110.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on BX shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Citigroup reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Saturday, July 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $168.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $157.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $172.38.

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.