HighTower Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Blackstone Inc. $BX

HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,692,851 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 39,841 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $260,936,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Blackstone by 34.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,365,000 after purchasing an additional 2,035 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Blackstone by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,076 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $310,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. United Bank boosted its holdings in Blackstone by 14.7% in the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 13,528 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,024,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729 shares during the period. Nebula Research & Development LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the second quarter worth $1,124,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in Blackstone by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 452,619 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $67,703,000 after acquiring an additional 8,655 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Tactical Opportunit Blackstone sold 1,596,142 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total value of $15,961,420.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 7,477,504 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.51, for a total transaction of $26,246,039.04. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 25,832 shares in the company, valued at $90,670.32. The trade was a 99.66% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have bought 4,015,297 shares of company stock worth $105,053,996 and have sold 9,128,660 shares worth $46,457,920. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of BX opened at $117.22 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $87.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.98, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.63. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $117.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $134.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Blackstone Inc. has a twelve month low of $101.73 and a twelve month high of $190.09.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The asset manager reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.02. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.86% and a net margin of 20.67%.The company had revenue of $3.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.11 EPS. Blackstone’s revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th were issued a $1.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 118.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on BX shares. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $140.00 to $133.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $142.00 to $136.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 24th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Blackstone from $171.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Blackstone from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Blackstone from $118.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $151.05.

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.