Blackstone Inc. $BX Shares Purchased by Ranch Capital Advisors Inc.

Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 27,926 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 503 shares during the quarter. Blackstone accounts for 1.8% of Ranch Capital Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Ranch Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $4,177,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BX. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its position in Blackstone by 519,669.1% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 70,132,441 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,490,411,000 after buying an additional 70,118,948 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 1.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,997,581 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,504,702,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102,949 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the first quarter valued at $151,524,000. Amundi grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 69.3% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 2,421,502 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $323,000,000 after purchasing an additional 990,947 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Blackstone by 16.3% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,292,320 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $739,761,000 after purchasing an additional 742,829 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Blackstone Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of BX opened at $154.55 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $170.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $155.77. The stock has a market cap of $113.92 billion, a PE ratio of 44.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.77. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.66 and a 12 month high of $200.96. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter. Blackstone had a return on equity of 22.30% and a net margin of 20.56%. Equities analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 3rd will be paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 3rd. Blackstone’s payout ratio is presently 117.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Private Multi-Asset Blackstone purchased 2,538,071 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 22nd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $25.61 per share, for a total transaction of $64,999,998.31. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 7,506,209 shares in the company, valued at $192,234,012.49. The trade was a 51.09% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Vikrant Sawhney sold 50,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.64, for a total value of $8,829,594.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 737,248 shares in the company, valued at approximately $128,015,742.72. This trade represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 2,538,345 shares of company stock valued at $65,046,628 and have sold 16,984,634 shares valued at $155,181,346. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on BX shares. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price objective on Blackstone from $166.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Blackstone from $177.00 to $176.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Blackstone from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Blackstone from $207.00 to $199.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Blackstone from $197.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. One 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $180.84.

Blackstone Profile

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.