Leo Wealth LLC Raises Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Leo Wealth LLC increased its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 11.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,115 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 539 shares during the quarter. Leo Wealth LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $765,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BX. 1248 Management LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone in the first quarter worth about $25,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Family CFO Inc purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of BX stock opened at $160.52 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market cap of $118.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.15, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.77. Blackstone Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.66 and a 52 week high of $200.96. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $172.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $154.15.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were given a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 110.75%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total value of $3,686,390.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 453,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,814,720.56. This represents a 4.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 16,689,884 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.26, for a total transaction of $104,478,673.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders bought 3,727,877 shares of company stock worth $95,046,625 and sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on BX. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Blackstone from $207.00 to $199.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $200.00 to $199.00 in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $215.00 to $208.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. JMP Securities lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Blackstone from $181.00 to $171.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.00.

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.