Meeder Advisory Services Inc. Purchases Shares of 19,726 Blackstone Inc. $BX

Meeder Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 19,726 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $2,321,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ares Financial Consulting LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Bell Investment Advisors Inc purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Strive Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Palladiem LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, West Branch Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 26,600.0% during the 2nd quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 267 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 266 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone bought 573,614 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $26.15 per share, with a total value of $15,000,006.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 8,455,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $221,118,071.70. This represents a 7.28% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.11, for a total transaction of $6,619,950.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 516,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $75,911,260.87. This represents a 8.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have purchased 1,339,180 shares of company stock worth $35,062,433 and have sold 7,562,000 shares worth $40,331,085. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Blackstone from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Blackstone to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. HSBC reissued a “hold” rating and set a $135.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Argus raised their price target on shares of Blackstone from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $147.95.

Blackstone Price Performance

BX opened at $140.62 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $101.73 and a 1-year high of $190.09. The company has a 50-day moving average of $127.46 and a 200-day moving average of $122.41. The company has a market capitalization of $105.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.46, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.55.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $5.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. Blackstone had a return on equity of 23.77% and a net margin of 21.84%.Blackstone’s quarterly revenue was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 6 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. 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. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 115.44%.

Blackstone 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.