Drive Wealth Management LLC Takes $252,000 Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Drive Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,682 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $252,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 105.4% during the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 13,405 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,874,000 after buying an additional 6,878 shares in the last quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the second quarter worth approximately $273,000. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Blackstone by 22.1% during the 2nd quarter. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC now owns 12,042 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,801,000 after purchasing an additional 2,182 shares during the period. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter valued at $423,000. Finally, Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 14.5% in the 1st quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 14,708 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,056,000 after purchasing an additional 1,863 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Blackstone news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 113,000 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.69, for a total value of $19,852,970.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 695,757 shares in the company, valued at $122,237,547.33. The trade was a 13.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone purchased 2,538,071 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 22nd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $25.61 per share, for a total transaction of $64,999,998.31. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 7,506,209 shares in the company, valued at $192,234,012.49. This represents a 51.09% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 2,538,345 shares of company stock valued at $65,046,628 and have sold 16,984,634 shares valued at $155,181,346. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of BX opened at $160.57 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74. The company has a market capitalization of $118.36 billion, a PE ratio of 43.16, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.77. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $171.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $155.23.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend 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 (DPR) is presently 110.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on BX shares. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Blackstone from $215.00 to $208.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Blackstone from $172.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Citigroup dropped their price target on Blackstone from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Blackstone from $181.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. One 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $180.26.

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.