Blackstone Inc. $BX Stock Holdings Lifted by Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC

Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 6.7% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,035 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 504 shares during the quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,202,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Blackstone by 34.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,365,000 after buying an additional 2,035 shares during the last quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 6.4% during the first quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC now owns 18,104 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,531,000 after acquiring an additional 1,085 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 39,400 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,507,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the period. TFR Capital LLC. bought a new stake in Blackstone in the 1st quarter valued at about $273,000. Finally, CWM LLC grew its position in Blackstone by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 44,433 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,211,000 after purchasing an additional 968 shares during the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $200.00 to $199.00 in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. TD Cowen reduced their price target on Blackstone from $208.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $166.00 price target on Blackstone and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $173.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Blackstone from $177.00 to $176.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.74.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total value of $8,829,594.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 737,248 shares in the company, valued at approximately $128,015,742.72. This represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John G. Finley sold 21,500 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider owned 453,836 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,814,720.56. The trade was a 4.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have acquired 2,565,141 shares of company stock worth $68,991,351 and have sold 16,875,234 shares worth $136,847,628. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Stock Up 1.8%

NYSE BX opened at $146.00 on Monday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The company has a market capitalization of $107.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.71, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.76. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $165.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $157.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

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

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Investors of record on Monday, November 3rd will be given a $1.29 dividend. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 147.43%.

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.