Visionary Wealth Advisors Buys Shares of 5,275 Blackstone Inc. $BX

Visionary Wealth Advisors purchased a new position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 5,275 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $621,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BX. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $15,561,000 after buying an additional 8,321 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Private Capital Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 1st quarter worth $1,340,000. Marble Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter valued at $7,303,000. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its stake in Blackstone by 92.2% during the first quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 807,184 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $92,817,000 after buying an additional 387,109 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Blackstone by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 992,449 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $152,976,000 after purchasing an additional 152,048 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Stock Performance

NYSE BX opened at $143.66 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $107.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $101.73 and a 52-week high of $190.09. The company’s fifty day moving average is $129.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $122.50.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its 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 business 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 posted $0.98 earnings per share. Blackstone’s revenue was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.99 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 10th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd were given a dividend of $1.29 per share. This is an increase from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.16. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is 115.44%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on BX. HSBC reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Rothschild & Co Redburn lowered their target price on Blackstone from $134.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Zacks Research raised shares of Blackstone from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Blackstone to a “hold” rating in a research report 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $147.95.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In related news, major shareholder Holdings Iv L.P. Blackstone acquired 272,642 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The stock was purchased at an average price of $26.14 per share, for a total transaction of $7,126,861.88. Following the transaction, the insider owned 8,704,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,533,512.66. The trade was a 3.23% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Ruth Porat acquired 371 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $137.17 per share, for a total transaction of $50,890.07. Following the acquisition, the director owned 42,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,787,065.13. This represents a 0.89% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders purchased 1,611,822 shares of company stock worth $42,189,294 and sold 7,562,000 shares worth $40,331,085. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Company 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.