Wedmont Private Capital Grows Position in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Wedmont Private Capital grew its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 66.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,717 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 5,069 shares during the quarter. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,565,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Redwood Financial Network Corp boosted its position in Blackstone by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 3,588 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $537,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 2.1% in the third quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 3,453 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $590,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Brogan Financial Inc. increased its position in Blackstone by 2.5% in the third quarter. Brogan Financial Inc. now owns 2,904 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $496,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. SlateStone Wealth LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC now owns 3,997 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $616,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Founders Financial Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Founders Financial Securities LLC now owns 1,928 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $297,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BX. Zacks Research raised shares of Blackstone from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Barclays raised their price target on Blackstone from $119.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Blackstone from $136.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Blackstone from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Blackstone from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $149.43.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat acquired 371 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The shares were acquired at an average cost 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 $5,787,065.13. The trade was a 0.89% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Holdings Iv L.P. Blackstone bought 272,642 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $26.14 per share, with a total value of $7,126,861.88. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 8,704,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,533,512.66. This represents a 3.23% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders acquired 1,611,822 shares of company stock valued at $42,189,294 and sold 7,562,000 shares valued at $40,331,085. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

BX stock opened at $136.07 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a 1-year low of $101.73 and a 1-year high of $190.09. 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 cap of $102.14 billion, a PE ratio of 30.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.56. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $133.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $123.13.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were issued a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 115.44%.

About Blackstone

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.