Clarius Group LLC Buys 131 Shares of Blackstone Inc. $BX

Clarius Group LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,497 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the quarter. Clarius Group LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $2,168,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BX. Oak Hill Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 7.5% in the 2nd quarter. Oak Hill Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,422 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $691,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Sava Infond d.o.o. purchased a new position in Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth about $166,000. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 11.1% during the 2nd quarter. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC now owns 1,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $150,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 4.7% during the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 131,405 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $19,656,000 after purchasing an additional 5,874 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Single Point Partners LLC bought a new position in Blackstone during the second quarter valued at approximately $220,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.1%

NYSE:BX opened at $168.40 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.66 and a twelve month high of $200.96. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $173.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $153.80. The company has a market cap of $124.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its earnings results 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 net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 110.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Bank of America cut their price target on Blackstone from $200.00 to $199.00 in a research note on Friday. Citigroup reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Saturday, July 19th. Dbs Bank upgraded Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised their price target on Blackstone from $166.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $175.53.

Insider Transactions at Blackstone

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total transaction of $3,686,390.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 453,836 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,814,720.56. This trade represents a 4.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 value of $104,478,673.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have bought 3,727,877 shares of company stock worth $95,046,625 and have sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Blackstone

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.