Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Sold by Royal London Asset Management Ltd.

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. cut its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 13.1% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 37,445 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 5,643 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $4,406,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Strive Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Palladiem LLC acquired a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Entrust Financial LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $114.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Blackstone to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Blackstone in a report on Monday, June 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $149.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone purchased 765,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $26.14 per share, with a total value of $20,000,001.54. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 7,882,145 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $206,039,270.30. This trade represents a 10.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.11, for a total transaction of $6,619,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 516,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,911,260.87. This represents a 8.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders bought 1,611,822 shares of company stock worth $42,189,294 and sold 7,562,000 shares worth $40,331,085. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $143.32 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $101.73 and a 1 year high of $190.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $131.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $122.93. The company has a market capitalization of $107.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.55.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.18. Blackstone had a return on equity of 23.77% and a net margin of 21.84%.The company had revenue of $5.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. Blackstone’s revenue was up 35.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd were paid a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is presently 115.44%.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc (NYSE: BX) is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.

Blackstone’s business is organized around several principal investment platforms.