Kampmann Melissa S. Decreases Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Kampmann Melissa S. decreased its position in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 23.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,260 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 4,330 shares during the period. Blackstone makes up approximately 1.3% of Kampmann Melissa S.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Kampmann Melissa S.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,678,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Werlinich Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 0.3% during the second quarter. Werlinich Asset Management LLC now owns 37,342 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,394,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 129,219 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $15,205,000 after buying an additional 8,293 shares in the last quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 16.1% in the second quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 122,455 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $14,409,000 after acquiring an additional 16,947 shares in the last quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new stake in Blackstone during the second quarter worth approximately $200,000. Finally, Greenspring Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the second quarter valued at approximately $228,000. 70.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on BX shares. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Blackstone from $140.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, June 8th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. HSBC reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $161.00 to $169.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $149.43.

Blackstone Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of BX opened at $137.72 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $132.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $123.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $103.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.56. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $101.73 and a 12-month high of $190.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $5.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. Blackstone had a net margin of 21.84% and a return on equity of 23.77%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were given a dividend of $1.29 per share. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 115.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 371 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $137.17 per share, with a total value of $50,890.07. Following the transaction, the director owned 42,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,787,065.13. This trade represents a 0.89% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv L.P. Blackstone bought 272,642 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $26.14 per share, for a total transaction of $7,126,861.88. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 8,704,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,533,512.66. This represents a 3.23% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 1,611,822 shares of company stock worth $42,189,294 and have sold 7,562,000 shares worth $40,331,085. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Blackstone Company Profile

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.