Guinness Asset Management LTD Boosts Holdings in Blackstone Inc. $BX

Guinness Asset Management LTD lifted its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 2.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,697 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. Guinness Asset Management LTD’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $703,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Arcus Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% in the second quarter. Arcus Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,937 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $739,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,213 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $331,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 0.8% in the second quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 8,036 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,202,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Jeppson Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Blackstone by 1.0% during the second quarter. Jeppson Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,549 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $980,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, McAdam LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 1,762 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $246,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone bought 2,538,071 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Monday, September 22nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $25.61 per share, for a total transaction of $64,999,998.31. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 7,506,209 shares in the company, valued at $192,234,012.49. This represents a 51.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.46, for a total transaction of $3,686,390.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 453,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,814,720.56. This trade represents a 4.52% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders acquired 2,538,345 shares of company stock worth $65,046,628 and sold 16,984,634 shares worth $155,181,346. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on BX shares. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $195.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a report on Friday. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Blackstone from $208.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on Blackstone in a report on Friday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $190.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $207.00 to $199.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Blackstone to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $180.26.

Blackstone Price Performance

Blackstone stock opened at $154.55 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $170.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $156.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.75. Blackstone Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.66 and a 1 year high of $200.96. The company has a market capitalization of $113.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.77.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last posted its earnings results on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.56% and a return on equity of 22.30%. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 3rd will be paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 3rd. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 117.71%.

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.