Herbst Group LLC Has $361,000 Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Herbst Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 6.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,415 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 139 shares during the quarter. Herbst Group LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $361,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. 1248 Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter worth about $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC bought a new position in Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the first quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on BX. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Blackstone from $165.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Citigroup reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Saturday, July 19th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective 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. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $172.38.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE:BX opened at $178.21 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $173.90 and its 200-day moving average is $152.30. The stock has a market cap of $131.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.77. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.66 and a 1-year high of $200.96. 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 quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.83% and a return on equity of 20.47%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 110.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Joseph Baratta sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.36, for a total transaction of $16,736,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 808,757 shares in the company, valued at $135,353,571.52. This trade represents a 11.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Holdings I. L.P. Blackstone acquired 1,189,532 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $25.22 per share, for a total transaction of $29,999,997.04. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 4,178,771 shares in the company, valued at $105,388,604.62. This trade represents a 39.79% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders bought 3,727,877 shares of company stock worth $95,046,625 and sold 16,871,634 shares worth $135,328,376. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.