HBK Sorce Advisory LLC Buys Shares of 4,556 Blackstone Inc. $BX

HBK Sorce Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 4,556 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $620,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BX. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its position in Blackstone by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 100,951 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $15,561,000 after purchasing an additional 8,321 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Private Capital Group LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the first quarter worth about $1,340,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,667,695 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,046,859,000 after buying an additional 840,258 shares in the last quarter. Marble Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $7,303,000. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia raised its stake in Blackstone by 92.2% during the 1st quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 807,184 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $92,817,000 after acquiring an additional 387,109 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BX. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $215.00 to $184.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Blackstone from $133.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Blackstone from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Argus lifted their target price on Blackstone from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Blackstone to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blackstone currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $147.95.

Blackstone Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of Blackstone stock opened at $140.87 on Tuesday. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $101.73 and a twelve month high of $190.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $127.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $122.45. The firm has a market cap of $105.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.51, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.56.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd were issued a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 115.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO David Payne sold 9,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.23, for a total value of $1,379,685.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 64,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,359,783.04. This trade represents a 12.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 371 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The stock was bought 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 $5,787,065.13. This represents a 0.89% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have purchased 1,339,180 shares of company stock valued at $35,062,433 and have sold 7,562,000 shares valued at $40,331,085. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.